


Silent City

by vaarion_png



Category: Hollow Knight (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, BAMF Women, Canon Non-Binary Character, Gen, Multi, Post-Dream No More Ending (Hollow Knight)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-01
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:48:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 29
Words: 90,267
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27335935
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vaarion_png/pseuds/vaarion_png
Summary: Death isn’t permanent.History repeats itself.Ancient Enemies return.Relationships fade.Old Rivalries surface and boil over.The five unwavering truths of Hallownest. The eternal kingdom.A modern Hollow Knight fic set in 2018, in an unknown city built atop Hallownest.
Comments: 45
Kudos: 81





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I’ve humanized everyone because I know that writing bugs will be a pain in the ass and also bugs don’t really work with the setting. Also, all the archive warnings are for mild mentions of each of those, not heavy themes.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance returns to the physical realm.

The stars above a darkened city twinkled in the night. An enchanted fog covered the streets as a few street lamps illuminated the sidewalks. A woman, tall and rather confident, stood at a bus stop. Despite the darkness, she was wearing sunglasses, and despite the humidity, she wore a large, fluffy winter coat with sweatpants.

She appeared as though waiting for something. She stood there for maybe an hour, waiting patiently. She never checked her watch, and she never looked around.

“A pretty girl like you shouldn’t be out here at this time.” Someone said to her from the alleyway behind the bus stop. “Let me help you.”

The woman said nothing. She continued to stare ahead, waiting for what seemed to be nothing.

“I said, let me help you.” The voice from the alleyway spoke again. Two men emerged from the alleyway and began to creep over towards her. She still didn’t move. They crept from around the bus stop and over to her.

“You should let me help you.” The man’s voice was now in her ear. She continued to stare. The two men grabbed her arms. She didn’t do a single thing. In fact, she seemed to go willingly with them into the alleyway. There were two other men waiting there. The fog was less dense.

“You guys hold her down.” One of the men said. “They usually put up more of a fight. 

The woman didn’t say anything. She was still staring. In fact, it seemed like she wasn’t aware of anything going on. Each of her arms was grabbed by one of the men, and another held her ankles. The fourth man stood in front of her, surveying her face. “How gorgeous. We found a good one, boys.”

He reached out his hands to touch this woman. First her face, then her arms, and then her chest. His smile grew wider. His hand then moved down to touch the inside of her pants.

Suddenly, the men could hear her breathe. It was like she had woken up. Her knuckles cracked and she seized up. In a cold, echoey voice, she spoke.

“Get… your hands… off of me.” She spoke slowly. Deliberately. Something behind her glasses seemed to glow.

“Keep her pinned.” The main man growled. “You have nothing you can do.”

The woman’s mouth curled into a soft, sinister smile. “No. There’s nothing _you_ can do.”

It was quick, and completely unpredictable. There was an explosion of light. It enveloped the alleyway and it disappeared as quickly as it had manifested. You could see the woman’s hair— it was flowing beautifully, but there was no wind. From the light, she summoned swords. Three of them. Each one planted themselves perfectly into the eyes of one of the three men. The fourth was backing up into the wall.

“I swear— please, it wasn’t— don’t hurt me— I won’t do it— just let me live—“ he pleaded, shielding his eyes from this woman, who now seemed to be glowing. She grabbed his collar and stood him up in front of her.

“Please don’t hurt me—“

“Hush.” She hissed emotionlessly. She pinned both of his hands to the wall, and secured them with daggers. The man’s moans of pain got louder and louder. “I said, hush.”

Surprisingly, he got quiet. Whimpering, he looked at his three other men, swords buried in their eyes. “You’re a monster… who… who are you?”

“Me?” Her mouth curved into another smile. “Oh…” she brought her hands to her face and took off her glasses. As she looked into her attacker’s eyes, he gasped. Her eyes were completely black, save for her pupils, which were glowing white. “I’m no monster…”

She placed her hand on his forehead, and he gasped in overwhelming pain. It started near his feet and traveled upwards, slowly at first, and then faster. He felt his mouth burn as a vibrant orange fluid began to drip from his lips. He started to choke. Then it came through his eyes. They burned like nothing before. The substance forced its way through his eyes, feeling like they were about to be popped out. And then he couldn’t see. He felt his own eye hit his foot as it fell to the ground. He tried to scream, but couldn’t. He could only hear the woman’s voice.

“...I am God.”

...

Centuries ago, a goddess of light known as the Radiance created a civilization of sentient beings known as the moth tribe, for their affinity to the light. For many years, they remained content, until another light manifested itself within their civilization. This light, known as the Pale King, created a kingdom in his image: The Eternal Kingdom of Hallownest. He gave the once mindless beings in Hallownest sentience, and built a civilization for them. The Radiance was forgotten by her subjects and cast out by the pale king. Her memory was contained within a mindless being to keep her from spreading through the dreams of the Pale King’s subjects. The Kingdom would last eternally.

It was day again in this strange city, where three men had been mysteriously murdered in an alleyway yesterday. The fourth was deemed missing by the police force. 

“Nobody will miss them.” A young woman whispered to herself in her apartment as she read the paper. She continued to scan it for a while, occasionally glancing over at a door that was only barely cracked open. 

At first glance, the apartment looked pretty normal, albeit covered in a lot of plants and greenery. There was, however, a long, thin sword that slightly resembled a needle leaning against the front door. A strange outfit hung from the wall. Most of the windows were drawn.

Perhaps the strangest thing about her was her appearance. She was young, very young, but her hair was a bright white. Her eyes were grey and she was rather short. She continued to glance cautiously at the door.

After a long fifteen minutes, a boy walked out of the door. He was quite young, but his exact age was hard to pinpoint. He was wearing sunglasses, and his hair was also stark white. 

“Ghost. Should I remind you how to act today?” the woman said as she stood up quickly.

The child didn’t say anything, but looked into her eyes.

“I know you never do, but don’t speak. Don’t fight. Don’t take off your glasses. Be gentle. Do what the people there tell you to do. Don’t act strange. Don’t do any of those things unless it is absolutely necessary. Do you understand?” The girl was staring down at him, her eyes icy. The boy put his hands together, and walked towards the door.

“Good. I’ll meet you after school. We don’t want another altercation like yesterday.” She took her dark red coat from the coat stand and opened the door. The little boy walked through and started down the stairs. 

“One day this will change.” she spoke to herself, glancing over at that long, needle-like sword. She stared at it for a moment, seemingly considering it. 

And then she took it.

...

The Kingdom of Hallownest, as it once was called, did not last eternally. The Pale King was truly a legendary figure, but he would do anything to preserve his kingdom. And he did. When the Radiance was remembered by one of the pale king’s subjects, she was able to begin to reclaim her once loyal subjects into a hive mind. This infection spread through the dreams of the pale king’s citizens, and he did what he had to to stop it. He had millions of children infused with a dark, mysterious substance known as void, in an attempt to create a truly mindless being-- one that could trap the radiance and keep her infection from spreading, for all eternity. A single being was found-- amidst the millions of failures. They were locked away in a pit called the abyss, left to die. They were simply the refuse of this perfect vessel.

A young man was in a small grocery store, picking out seemingly random things from the shelf and putting them in his basket. He was tall, very tall, but he was slouching rather severely. His face was expressionless, and he had a piece of cloth over one of his eyes. He seemed wary of something.

As he turned the corner towards the counter, his eyes rested over some orange juice in the corner. He shivered subtly, and walked toward the counter.

The cashier had been watching him intently-- he seemed like an interesting person, but he didn’t look very talkative. He began to scan the items as the man put them on the counter. His long, white hair draped over his shoulders in a rather entrancing way, and his long, thin fingers brushed over each of the items as he dropped them on the counter.

“That’ll be $56.67.” the cashier said after sliding the last product into a bag. “Cash or credit?” 

The tall man pulled out three twenty dollar bills from his pocket, and placed them on the counter, still not speaking a word.

“Mm.” the cashier opened the register and began to count the change. He looked up. “If you don’t mind me asking, how’d you lose your eye?” The cashier could have just as easily asked what happened to his left arm, as that was gone too, but the eye was more noticeable.

He placed his hand in his pocket, and took a deep breath. “...infection.” his voice was deep and deliberate, but it sounded like he had forced that word out of his mouth.

“Ow.” the cashier commented, holding out the change. He took it and slipped it into his pocket. “Well, have a good day sir.”

“...you...too.” he said back to him, and walked out of the store.

The young man was breathing deliberately as he walked all the way back to his apartment. His hand shook as he unlocked his door and placed down the groceries. The door seemed to close on its own behind him.

He put the keys on the kitchen counter, and pushed his hair out of his eye. He walked into the bathroom, turned on the light, and stared at his reflection. He turned the tap slightly and a small stream of water fell from the faucet. His long fingers reached out underneath the faucet, and let the water drip from them. He brought his hand to his face, where he slowly slipped the fabric off of his face.

The eye behind it was dripping, dripping with a thick, orange fluid that seemed neither liquid nor solid. It almost looked like it was glowing. The man was looking into his reflection, examining his eye carefully. Then he looked down into the sink, and spoke, this time without hesitation.

“I’m sorry, father.”

...

The perfect vessel. They were known as the Hollow Knight-- the being that would contain the radiance for eternity. But they didn’t. The very fact that they knew their purpose ruined them. They had to be empty. They wouldn’t disappoint their father. And because of that, the Radiance could exploit them.

And so the kingdom fell to the infection.

Decades after the fall, a discarded vessel returns to Hallownest after leaving their home for a time. This vessel travels the kingdom, learns of its history, and becomes the king. This vessel returns to their birthplace, discovers the roots of their existence, and unites their siblings. With the void by their side, they were able to enter the Hollow Knight’s dreams, and defeat the Radiance. After, the vessel dies, ridding the world of the Radiance’s wrath.

As of then.

Things change.


	2. The Warning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost gets into a fight during recess.

The bell rings for first period. All of the children late for class gasp and start sprinting down the hallways. Maybe if they make it in time, their teacher won’t mention it--

“Carl! That’s the second time this week you’ve been late. I’m writing you a note. Make sure it gets to your parents.” the woman at the front of the classroom barks. She takes a slip of paper out of her desk and scribbles something on it. “There. Make sure it gets home.”

Ashamed, the young boy grabs the note and mumbles something on the way to his seat. It’s near the back, next to this boy with shockingly white hair and sunglasses that he never takes off. Apparently it’s because of some medical condition. 

“Okay. class, I’d like you all to take out last night’s homework, and lay it on our desks. I’m going to go around and check that you’ve all done it, and then we’re going to start our day with reviewing…” the teacher’s voice continues around the room, like the monotone ringing in the white haired boy’s ears. He didn’t need to listen to her. It’s not like he could speak anyway, and she knew that. In a way, he was her favorite student. He followed directions perfectly, he never spoke over her, and he was always wonderfully behaved. It never really crossed her mind that no normal child could have ever acted like this.

The teacher had encircled the room. “Good work. Today, I wanted to assign a partner project that you will be completing in class on our vocabulary words.”

A few of the students groan, and the teacher smiles reassuringly. “Don’t worry. It should be fun! Now, turn to the person next to you, and introduce yourself.”

The boy who had been late to class, Carl, turned immediately to the girl on his right, who scoffed at him and turned away. He looked at the boy in front of him, and then behind him, before sighing and turning to the weird kid. He was staring at his paper, his sunglasses glinting.

“Uhh, hi? I guess we’re partners.” he wasn’t happy. Carl had hoped for a partner that he could at the very least talk to. “Umm… you… you alive?”

The boy looked over at him. In class, he was known as Quirrel. At least, it was what he told his sister he wanted to be called. In reality, he didn’t really have a name. His sister called him Ghost, since he was small, silent, and almost unnoticeable, at least early on. 

Quirrel nodded, and turned his chair toward Carl. He looked uneasy as he smiled and gave Quirrel a thumbs up, and then turned back towards his desk. 

The rest of the class was used up by the teacher, who explained what this project was going to be, and how they were going to complete it. By the time the bell rang, Carl had been eagerly waiting to complain to his friend Ben about his partner. He sprung out of his seat and ran to catch up.

“Hey!”

“Carl! I’m paired with Jess, which is okay, I guess, but who are you with?” Ben turned around to meet him.

“That kid. The freak.” Carl lowered his voice and gestured toward Quirrel.

“Aw, that sucks.” Ben frowns. “I heard he was pacing during recess yesterday, like some kind of robot.”

“I heard he’s dead, and he came back to life. That’s why he wears those glasses. To hide his zombie eyes.”

“I heard he killed someone, and now he’s haunted by their spirit.” Ben said creepily. “It’s gotta be one of them. He isn’t a normal kid.”

“Yeah…” Carl’s eyes dart back to where Quirrel was standing, but he was no longer there.

Of course, Quirrel had heard everything they said. Everybody assumed he was half deaf, because he never really acted like he heard anything. But he might as well not have heard anything, because nothing he heard about himself from other people ever affected him.

It was lunch now, and Quirrel was sitting by himself, outside on the brick wall between the tables and the playground. He stared at his plate of food, uneaten and untouched. It was a turkey sandwich with mayonnaise, and a small bottle of milk on the side. His sister had told him today to “act natural,” which might have been an easy command for anyone else, but to him, well… natural was just a word, and he couldn’t really comprehend that. After all, he didn’t really have a mind.

There were some kids looking at him and whispering over at the tables. He was aware of them, but he didn’t do anything. Less interaction would be better, in her opinion. In his sister’s opinion.

His sister’s legal name was Herrah Deepnest, named off the top of her head after her mother and her birthplace. Her actual name was Hornet. Simply, Hornet. Her story starts long, long ago.

“Hey, freak! Why don’t you just stay inside and talk with the teachers? You seem to love them so much.”

A fifth grader named Kevin. A classic case of someone neglected by their parents and so they look for the validation of other people by preying on people who look weak. Unfortunately for him, Quirrel was anything but weak.

Kevin had walked up to him, surrounded by three other guys, smirking and sniggering. Quirrel put down his tray of food, and looked up at the group of boys.

“C’mon, say something. I know you can.” Kevin sneers.

“You know he can talk?” one of the boys behind him asked.

“I’m sure he can. How could he not?” he turns back to Quirrel. “We’re not leaving ‘till you say something.”

Quirrel could outwait them. He was plenty older than he seemed, and his patience was unparalleled. And he could. Not even a minute had passed, when Kevin said, “This is stupid. If you won’t talk, then I’ll make you say something!” Perhaps he wanted to sound threatening, but he only sounded cute.

The fifth grader grabbed Quirrel’s shirt and pulled him off of the brick wall he had been sitting on. “Come on, teacher’s pet, say something!” He shook him slightly before dropping the small boy to the floor. His face remained emotionless as he got off the pavement.

“Come on, I know you can!” Kevin stepped back one and curled his hands into fists. The kids around him had come to watch, and his three friends he brought with him mirrored his stance.

Kevin took a swing, and, effortlessly, Quirrel shifted out of the way. He stumbled forward, growling, and looked back. Quirrel had put his hands behind his back. He had a slight urge to fight back— his enemy was stunned, and it gave him a perfect window to plant two, maybe three jabs in his side. But no. Hornet had told him to avoid fighting, and he would obey her at all times.

Kevin rushed forward, arms wide, and once again, Quirrel ducked away. He crashed into his friend, before turning around and telling the other two, “get him!”

The one behind him grabbed for Quirrel’s arms, and the one in front of him rushed to grab his shoulders. Quirrel dived between the one’s legs, quickly standing up and looking at where the two had collided. More people had gathered to watch them.

“Get his glasses!” One of them yelled. An echo sounded in Quirrel’s hollow mind, when Hornet told him to never take off his glasses.

All four of them surrounded the small boy, him looking around, surveying every weakness. And then someone rushed him.

He slid out of the way, and another one grabbed his arm. He quickly pulled his arm out of his jacket sleeve, while another had came up and grabbed his opposite shoulder. Quirrel tripped the boy still holding onto his jacket sleeve, and quickly slid his other arm out of the jacket, maneuvering over the tripped boy and focusing hard on his surroundings. 

Kevin then lunged at him, and the two of them fell to the floor. Quirrel could have avoided it, but he hadn’t fought well in a long time. He could still thankfully feel the glasses on his face.

Two of the other kids had pinned him down before he had the chance to get up. Quirrel was agile, fast, and lethal when he wanted to be, but he wasn’t strong. Getting out of this would be difficult without using anything that could possibly harm the children.

But it didn’t seem like he needed to get out of it. Kevin was reaching for his glasses.

His eyes had shut tight. He felt them being removed from his face, and so he kept them shut.

“Open your eyes, freak.” He spat, sounding triumphant. Quirrel could feel the silence in the air, as the kids surrounding him waited for him to open his eyes. Oh, the silence. The darkness. It gave him strength. He probably could have desecrated the courtyard. He could feel his blood writhing inside of him, a monster waiting to be released. 

At this point, he wasn’t Quirrel. He was a ghost. They were Ghost. Child of the Pale King. Born of god and void. 

It wasn’t just the silence that gave them this power. There was something else in the air. Something was warning them of a danger to come. The danger that Hornet told of. The danger that they had eliminated in their past life. The light. The Radiance.

She was back.

“What in the world is going on here!” A teacher had yelled from outside the circle. Ghost’s strength that had built up during the silence was gone, but could still feel their blood, their being, writhing. Oh yes, the Radiance had definitely returned.

“KEVIN HAWTHORNE GET OFF OF THAT CHILD THIS INSTANCE!” The teacher shrieked when she came to the center of the circle. Ghost could tell that someone had gotten the teacher. A rather convenient time for that— eventually they would have had to do something about the kids holding them down— they were lucky the problem solved itself. 

“Oh, Quirrel, are you alright?” The teacher kneeled down and touched his wrist. “Where’s your glasses?”

She looked around and picked the sunglasses off of the ground. She placed them on his face, and Quirrel could now safely open his eyes.

“GET BACK HERE, MISTER HAWTHORNE!” She shrieked. “You and mister Deepnest will follow me to the principal’s office now.”

Quirrel let the teacher pull him off the floor, his face still completely expressionless. 

“I’ll have the principal call your mother, Kevin. And I’ll have her alert your sister, Quirrel. Hopefully they can get down to the school for a talk.” She leads the two of them down a long hallway, and they enter the principal’s office. She’s out right now, and the teacher leaves the two of them alone to go find her. Quirrel sits silently, his eyes staring completely still, while Kevin fidgets, cracking his knuckles and huffing angrily.

Once the teacher is gone, he sniggers. “You live with your _sister?”_ He barks a cruel laugh for a 12 year old. “No wonder you’re so pathetic. You don’t even have any parents.”

…

Hornet kept her eyes trained on the glass she was cleaning. Her job was working in a bar, as a barista, alongside two other people— a girl and a guy, clearly dating. They kept leaving to make out behind the building, leaving Hornet to do nearly everything on her own. She didn’t complain. She wasn’t about to complain about the job that she’d had for nearly 10 years now. She had this job since before she found her younger sibling. She was really the only consistent thing in this bar. They kept changing the menu, and the owner never seemed to be happy with the layout. He paid her extra, since she was the only person who stuck around. All of the other baristas he hired left after the second change the guy made. Nobody was consistent. The customers changed every other day. It was honestly a miracle the establishment was still open.

Earlier that day, Hornet did have an interesting customer come in. It was a huge woman, nearly 7 feet tall. Her hair fell beautifully on her shoulders, and everyone stared at her as she walked in. Hornet thought she might have recognized her from somewhere, but she shook the thought and continued pouring this man’s drink. The guy barista had served her a margarita, before one of the other customers sat next to the woman and began making lewd comments. Hornet wrinkled her nose. People like that were disgusting. 

The tall woman didn’t make eye contact or even say anything to the guy until he managed to slap her ass.

Then Hornet could tell her eyes narrowed underneath her sunglasses. The glass in her hand shattered, but somehow her hand was uninjured. She stood up, towering over the gross little man. But instead of reacting violently, she leaned down, and stroked the underside of his chin with one long finger. She finally spoke, her voice icy, but with a small, minuscule hint of playfulness. 

“You’ll regret that.” She stood up straight again, and walked out of the bar. The man who had spoken to her looked absolutely terrified. It served him right.

The guy who he was working with, Dave, handed her a dirty dish rag without commenting on what had just happened. “Clean those glass shards and the dishes in the back. I’ll get anyone who comes in.”

Hornet scowls, and takes the dish rag, carefully picking up the glass.

Washing the dishes was honestly not such a bad job. She didn’t need to interact with people at all. She could just focus on what she was doing, drone out all the noise. She just hoped Dave was still out there actually doing his job—

“Hey. Hey, Herrah.” 

Hornet slipped out of her reverie. “Yes?”

“It’s for you.” He handed her the cordless phone, the one for the bar. She dried her hands and picked up the phone.

“Hello? This is Herrah Deepnest.” She answered.

“Yes, please. Your brother got into some trouble at school. We’d like you to come meet us here if it’s not an inconvenience.” A stern voice asked from the other side. 

Hornet inhaled quickly. Please, please, please. Ghost couldn’t have given themselves away. They were too careful about it. “Yes, I’ll be right over.” She walks over and puts the phone down. “Dave, you and Chrissy keep it up, I have to leave early.”

Dave audibly groaned. “Will you be back?”

“I don’t know.” Hornet says, keeping her voice steady. She takes off her apron and leaves the bar.

Hornet got on her motorcycle and left the building. She could have bought a car, but they weren’t exactly her style. It makes a satisfying _vvrrrrrooommmm_ sound as she rides off, her hair flapping in the wind.

She pulls up to the school, takes her helmet off, and rushes in. She knows where the principal’s office is, she was here yesterday for a reason probably similar to the one she’s here for today.

She arrives at the door, and smooths down her hair. She wipes down her clothes quickly and adjusts her collar. She wanted to look presentable.

She opens the door to find two children at the desk, sitting across from a stern looking principal. An angry woman speaking to her child is sitting on a chair next to him, but she shuts up when Hornet enters.

“Ah, yes, Miss Deepnest. Thank you for joining us.” The Principal smiles, gesturing a seat beside the small, white haired child that she identifies quickly as her sibling. Her throat tightens as the other woman scowls at her, crossing her arms.

“This is Mrs. Hawthorne.” The principal introduces. “Her child, Kevin Hawthorne, was seen handling Quirrel during recess.” She continues. “The teacher there describes that he was holding him down on the pavement, and that he had forced Quirrel to take off his glasses.”

Hornet swallows, and looks down at Ghost. The small vessel looks up at her, and shakes their head subtly. She tries not to let her relief show.

“That…” she looks over at the boy who had accosted Quirrel. “Okay. What else?”

“We don’t know how it was started.” The Principal says. “Kevin here says that Quirrel started it, but we don’t have any evidence, and Quirrel won’t tell us anything.”

“Listen.” The other woman spoke directly to Hornet this time. “You better get your child under control. He’s a menace.”

“They’re not my child.” She said forcefully, suddenly thinking of the Pale King. He hadn’t come up in her mind in years. “He’s not my child.” She corrected herself. Ghost was genderless, so Hornet called them they. But nobody else did. She didn’t care about humans’ simple brains, but to keep their suspicions low she used “he” around them.

“Well then you better get your adopted child some help.” She said sweetly. Hornet’s nose twitched. She didn’t bother correcting this woman again.

“Please, ladies.” The principal interrupts. “You might want to sort this out with each other, perhaps outside of school.” She says understandingly. “Get together, maybe. Perhaps if they get to know each other they won’t be as aggressive toward each other.” She smiles.

“I am not letting that child even _near_ my house.” Mrs. Hawthorne spits. “He needs to be disciplined.”

Her son hasn’t said anything yet. Hornet didn’t exactly blame him for anything. After all, she had tried to kill Ghost, twice, long ago during that fateful time period. Hornet looked at him. “Kevin, was it?” She asked. “Do you think that Quirrel should visit?”

The boy looked at Ghost, and the look on his face answered that question. Hornet felt something tug on the hem of her shirt. It was her sibling, and she looked down at him as if to say, “not now.”

“Well, listen.” The principal says. “If these two aren’t going to figure something out, then I’m afraid we’re going to have to suspend these two. This is, after all, the second fight in a row.”

“What? That’s ridiculous!” The mom yells. “To punish my child, to take away his education, just because that woman doesn’t know how to discipline a child!”

Oh, Ghost was perfectly disciplined. Hornet knew that. But they kept tugging on her shirt, with increasing urgency. She ignored it.

“Have you considered the possibility that your child is lying?” Hornet’s voice was calm when talking to the other woman. 

She gasped. “How dare you accuse Kevin of lying! He would never lie to me!” She inhales, and turns to the principal. “Can you believe the audacity of this woman!” She continued to speak to her, but Ghost had practically yanked Hornet back into her seat.

“What?” She hissed quietly, looking at her sibling. Ghost had pierced her with an intense stare— she could tell, even under their glasses. The vessel slowly brought their hands to their face, and lifted up one side of their sunglasses. The eye that had been revealed was pitch black, pupil less. This was not new to Hornet— Ghost’s eyes had always been emotionless, it was a characteristic of the vessels, or at least, the vessels that were completely hollow, which Ghost was. 

What was new was the look in the eye. It was almost as if she could see the void writhing around in his skull, with a renewed vigor. A drop of the dark liquid formed at the corner of Ghost’s eye, and dripped down. Luckily for Hornet, everybody else in the room was distracted, and her shock was kept to herself.

“It’s her.” Hornet breathed. Ghost gave one short nod. The Radiance was the only thing that could make the void writhe like that. The void could sense her, the renewed power that the Radiance had. In return, it became volatile, restless, ready to face their ancient enemy.

Ghost wiped the liquid from their cheek, and dropped their sunglasses. Hornet could only barely hear the principal arguing with Kevin’s mother. This was important. This was vital. All petty worries had been dropped at that moment. The Radiance was back. 

“Miss Deepnest, would you please give your input?” The principal asked, pulling Hornet out of her stupor.

She looked over at the two women, and smiled at the complete pettiness of it all. She couldn’t help but think— if they didn’t do anything, they’d be turned into mindless servants to the Radiance, dedicated to her hive mind. She began to laugh.

“What is so damn funny?” The mother snarled. “Stop that!”

Hornet couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to think about the Radiance. That was hundreds of years ago, when she had disappeared. Hornet had bided her time, waiting for the goddess's return, and now that she was here, Hornet wasn’t ready. Part of her knew it would only be a matter of time until she showed up, since Ghost came back not too long ago. Still, she didn’t expect this.

“Miss Deepnest?” The Principal spoke quietly. Hornet was still laughing. 

“Oh, gods above.” She said through laughter. “You know, I hate my father. I really do. He was such an asshole. But you know what? Now I want him here. I want to know what he’d do, even though he failed when he tried.”

She knows she’s speaking nonsense to them, but she doesn’t care. “Oh, you have no idea how terrible a dad he was. But at least he had the fact that he was a god on his side. I have nothing. Sure, I’m a queen, of a place that barely even exists anymore. And now, I have the biggest goddamn problem I could ever have.

The principal looks concerned. She should be. “Miss Deepnest… are you okay? Do you need a hospital?”

Hornet stops laughing, and stands up. She’s shorter than the principal, but about 10 times more Intimidating. “There won’t _be_ a hospital to need soon.” She spoke. Ghost stood up with her. Hornet turned her back on the principal. “I have things to attend to. Ghost won’t be back at your school for the foreseeable future.”

The other three in the room were completely silent. She motioned at Ghost, and walked toward the door. As she opened it, she stopped, and turned.

“Listen. If you want to keep your mind, don’t submit. Don’t submit to her.” Hornet warned. “Or you might just never _think_ again.”

And she shuts the door behind her.


	3. The Bathroom

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hollow Knight tries to do their job.

There was a fly buzzing around the apartment. The sound was bugging the Hollow Knight. It just never flew close enough to them for them to grab it.

The Hollow Knight, or Hollow for short, had been partly freed from the infection after their sibling destroyed her in their dreams. But she lingered, a constant voice inside their mind. Initially, they were hollow. But their purity had been corrupted when their father told them their purpose— and it only became further corrupted after the Radiance was trapped in their mind.

The fly had flown closer to Hollow, and they were able to reach out and pluck them out of the air. It struggled in between their pale, nimble fingers, pleading for release. Hollow simply stared at it. It was poor, pathetic, desperate. They would have crushed it, but a small voice in the back of their head told them to let it go. This wasn’t the Radiance’s voice— it was a different one, one they had been hearing for a while now, but it was still new. Hollow didn’t know it then, but that voice was their conscience, only just now speaking.

They let the fly go, and it flew off into the corner of the room, where it rested there for a bit. The Hollow Knight was learning sympathy. They were slowly, but surely, developing thoughts— and without ever thinking them before, they didn’t know what they were. They didn’t quite know that that was the reason they succumbed to the Radiance’s influence. But they knew the thoughts had something to do with it.

Hollow stood up. Currently, they rented out a small apartment on the bottom floor of a pretty shabby apartment building. It was cheap, because all they needed to pay for was the rent— they didn’t buy anything else. They didn’t need to eat, and they did everything by themselves— they cleaned, they fixed things that needed to be fixed, they did everything themselves, because they had nothing else to do. They played mute, mostly, since speaking took a lot of energy, and people took pity on them. They had no pride— they would accept people’s gifts and condolences without really understanding the reason they were doing this. The Hollow Knight was bred to be mindless— they couldn’t handle a society in which they were expected to do certain things because of emotions.

Hollow had bought food earlier this day, only because they wanted to give some to these kids who always came to their door, asking for donations for the poor. They never had any, but for some reason they had an urge to buy something for them. It was unexplained. The feeling was pity— but they didn’t know that.

The Hollow Knight got up and walked out of the apartment. They walked down the hallway, their footsteps falling quietly. For a being so large, they were rather quiet. They opened the door, and stepped outside, their eyes narrowing from the sun. They began to head down the street, with only their destination in mind. They entered the place that they worked at-- it was a large building, a social club, with plenty of restaurants, lots of entertainment, and a very nice outdoor pool. Their job was to clean-- and they were very good at it. The manager of the establishment liked them a lot-- mostly because they never complained, never slacked off, and they were practically invisible to the people who went there. Sure, they were large, but they blended in so perfectly with the background that nobody ever really seemed to see them.

They turned upstairs and found the janitor’s closet, where they took their supplies back downstairs and into the men’s bathroom. They began to replace the soap in the dispensers, their mind completely blank. It was like time didn’t really exist in this moment. All they knew was that they had to clean, and that they would. There was nothing distracting himself from the job at hand. 

Some people might find it ironic that royalty, once revered by their civilization, the great Hollow Knight, the honored warrior who sealed away the Radiance, was now cleaning toilets in a social club. The Hollow Knight didn’t mind at all. They were made to serve, made to not think, and because of that, there was no difference between battling an all powerful being for the fate of their civilization, and mopping bathroom floors.

When they finished with the men’s bathroom, they entered the woman’s bathroom. The woman finishing up in there cast an apprehensive look at Hollow, and quickly shuffled out. They started with the furthest stall, beginning to sanitize the handle and the toilet paper holder. Their eyes were trained on their job, no other thoughts intruding into their mind. It was almost silent, save for the gentle hum of the air conditioner.

But then there was something.

A voice inside of Hollow’s mind. One that was soft, sweet, and calming. A woman’s voice.

“Hollow…” she spoke. The first word was quiet. And then she repeated it.

“Hollow...” this one was more definite. Louder. It echoed through their empty mind. It was the Radiance-- Hollow knew this. They had been hearing her voice for a while, small words to influence whatever they did. But they had never been this loud.

“Hollow.” She spoke again. This was a short, quick sound. Her voice hadn’t been this loud inside their mind ever since their sibling vanquished her. He couldn’t hear the mop he was holding clatter to the floor. He stared straight ahead, waiting for her to speak again.

“Hollow Knight.” she said, “I’ve missed you. I really have.”

They felt something rise in their throat, like bile. They hunched over, covering their mouth. They turned around, looking into the mirror. Their uncovered eye was wide, full of fear. The liquid continued to rise in their throat.

“Please.” she said. “You don’t need to hold on to this regret.”

Hollow couldn’t help it, so they opened their mouth and let the burning sensation of infection flow from their lips. It didn’t really stop. Even after the initial release, a hot, burning goo leaked from their mouth, coating the only just mopped tile. They could feel it burning their eye too, and they remove the cloth from it, to feel hot streams of infection flowing down their cheek. 

“Your father didn’t want this from you. He didn’t care about you. Stop feeling sorry for him.” she said. She was trying to console them. No. They failed their father, it didn’t matter what she said. They failed him, it was the only thing they were meant to do, and they failed. Of course their father cared about him. Didn’t he? No…

Somebody walked in from behind him. “What the hell is going on in here!” it was the manager, and he was looking around the room, until focusing his eyes on the large man in the corner. “Jesus, what the hell are you doing, dumbass?” he shrieked. “Get up! Clean this up! Jesus, do I always have to monitor you now?”

Oh, Hollow thought the manager liked them. But in reality he didn’t give a shit about them. He appreciated them when they were silent and obedient. Any time Hollow couldn’t understand something, he would yell. Tell them they were dumb as shit and that he might as well fire them for how awful a job they were doing. He only liked Hollow’s muteness when it was advantageous to himself.

The Hollow Knight trembled. They were losing control of themselves, their eyes bulging out of their head. They were still gripping the cloth tightly and leaning against the wall, away from the manager.

“Let go.” The Radiance told them, her voice drowning out everything around them. And Hollow couldn’t stop it. They turned around, and faced the manager, who immediately gasped, and stared wide-eyed at the Hollow Knight. 

“Holy shit.” he whispered. They looked at each other for a moment, both of the Hollow Knight’s eyes glowing orange with infection. Hollow suddenly moved slowly toward the small man.

And he turned and bolted. He wrapped his hand around the door handle, trying to wrench it open, but the door was stuck. He began to scream for help as Hollow took slow steps toward him. He frantically wrenched on the door handle until it snapped off the door, and his eyes widened in complete horror. He turned toward the approaching figure, cloaked in darkness. The lights in the bathroom began to flicker off.

“No, no no no, please, please, let me go, please! I’ll-- I’ll give you a raise, anything! Anything at all! NO! I’M SO SORRY! DON’T DO THIS! PLEASE DON’T DO--”

“Stop speaking.” the Hollow Knight spoke, their voice eerily distorted. It was a strange mix of the Radiance’s voice and something completely different. The man hushed up immediately, staring into Hollow’s eyes. The manager had never heard Hollow speak before. Perhaps that was why.

The last light flickered out, but the bathroom was still illuminated by the glowing infection, dripping from Hollow’s eyes and mouth. The man was whimpering, waiting for The Hollow Knight to reach him.

And they did. They reached down and grabbed the man’s throat, hoisting him up against the bathroom wall. He gasped for air, still staring into the Hollow Knight’s eyes. And they smiled. They spoke again, this time entirely in the Radiance’s voice. “You should have thought twice before you took advantage of a poor, mute boy.” their grip tightened around the man’s throat. His face started to turn white. “Maybe in your next lifetime you’ll be a little less of a shithead.”

And the man, who had been struggling for the last minute, finally fell limp. Hollow let him drop to the floor, The Radiance still taking full advantage of their body. She had known how awful the pitiful man was to Hollow, and it felt good to watch him breathe his last breath. A tiny, tiny part of her cared for them. She had, after all, been stuck inside them for centuries. The Pale King did them wrong. They didn’t deserve the burden that he had bestowed upon them.

The Radiance took a deep breath inside the Hollow Knight’s body, before leaving them. She had other things to attend to.

But with that, the Hollow Knight collapsed. Their one eye returned to normal, as they kneeled in front of the manager. They placed their hand on their mouth, breathing shakily. Every part of their body ached, and they weren’t even completely sure what just happened.

Eventually, their breathing slowed. They felt lightheaded, their vision blurry and their arm weak. They fell to the floor, and then everything went dark.


	4. The Servant

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance brings a man from the street into her apartment.

The seven foot tall woman, her feet falling lightly on the cement under her, was walking with the flow of traffic down the sidewalk. She stood tall above all of the other people on the street, who didn’t really pay her any attention— they were all too focused on their phones. But occasionally there would be someone who would glance at her, and look away quickly. She could sense all the movements around her, every falling footstep. It felt good to be back, but she couldn’t help but survey the surroundings with disgust. What had happened to it, to the great Kingdom of Hallownest? What had happened to her civilization? She would have done anything to see even a fragment of the old kingdom. She would have been delighted to see the city of tears, or hell, even the white palace. Just a simple remnant from the past was all she wanted, but there was nothing. 

She wasn’t exactly opposed to progress, but this… this was something unreal. It felt as if everything had just been buried and replaced. This couldn’t have been the Pale King’s doing. If anything, he was dead. And nothing that she could see looked even remotely like something he would design. No. This was something created by people with no regard to Hallownest’s history, to what lay beneath the surface.

It had been a very long time since the Radiance had manifested into the mortal world. In fact, this was the very first time since the moth tribe. She preferred the dream realm— it wasn’t so easily corrupted by humanity’s radical change. But the Radiance hadn’t really existed for centuries, in the dream realm or the mortal. She had been vanquished by one of the Pale King’s vessels, one who had united the void against her and slayed her inside the Hollow Knight’s mind. But she never really left. It was centuries before she was able to return, a small manifestation in the dream realm. But that was really all she needed. Slowly, she returned to her old power, and was able to find her way back into the Hollow Knight’s mind.

And then she manifested within the mortal realm.

She wasn’t entirely within the human realm though, she still drew power from the dream realm. There were features in her human form that still showed her connection to the dream realm— a dull glow she constantly emanated, her glowing eyes, her incredible height. She hadn’t left her old self— and she wasn’t someone new, not like the Nightmare King had become. She was still the same, the god of light, and there was no way she would ever dare give up that identity.

The Radiance could feel a familiar aura around her. Ah, it was that man from the bar she had visited, the one who had spoken to her indecently. She couldn’t help but smile— she started running through the ways she could torture him in her mind. The pathetic man’s pleas for mercy. She closed her eyes and savored it. But no, she could use him in a different way, a way that might be beneficial to her.

She spotted him not too far away, about in his mid forties, a messy mop of hair and a sad, half-assed moustache that could only barely be considered one. She quietly walked up from behind him, and placed her hand carefully on his shoulder. He gasped and stopped walking, a few people ramming into him.

“What the hell?” the people muttered as they walked past him. The Radiance dug her hand into the man’s shoulder, and began to practically drag him with her. He had looked up at her, initially going to cuss at her, but shutting down as he looked at her face.

“Walk with me.” The Radiance said, a small smile forming on her face. The man took a shaky breath and went with her, his strides not as long as hers. She didn’t speak at all, the man walking quickly to keep up with her.

“Excuse me ma’am, my building is down that—“

“Don’t worry about that.” She said, speaking slowly. “You’ll have much more to worry about in just a moment.”

The man’s eyes darted around him. He wanted to yell, but he couldn’t seem to find the courage. 

“Tell me… how many women have you accosted within the last month?” The Radiance hissed, her voice deadly, but somewhat soft.

“Ma’am, I don’t know what you’re talk—“

“Yes you do.” She replied shortly, continuing to walk at a steady pace toward a certain building.

The man swallowed. “I mean, you’re the only one pretty enough for me anyway—“

The Radiance’s grip tightened, as she took a deep breath. “Flattering. But no.”

He began to shake, slightly. “Only two other girl—“

“We both know that isn’t the truth.” Abruptly, the Radiance dragged the man into a lot, where a decently tall apartment building stood. She turned down the side and walked around the building, and turned towards a door in the back. She placed her free hand on the doorknob, and took a deep breath as it melted under her grip. The man’s eyes widened, horrified, as the molten metal dripped through her hands and onto the floor. His lip quivered, looking around frantically for someone else. But there was nobody.

Radi dragged him inside the building, abruptly rounding corners until she reached the elevator, and took the pitiful, whimpering man to the 27 floor. There was an apartment within the building, which belonged to a man who had attempted to assault her in an alleyway. She was staying there for the time being, wondering how to best go about reclaiming her old kingdom again. 

She got to the door, room 2706, and opened it. It was unlocked— she had nothing in here to protect. She led the man inside, and closed the door behind her. She exhaled, softly, before swinging around and violently pushing the man to the floor.

“AuuuGHH—“ he groaned, feeling her heel strike his ribs square in the middle. He felt his knees give out from under him, and the Radiance’s hand push him down onto his back. He let out a strangled gasp as he hit the floor, and felt her foot press down on his chest.

“What the hell, lady!” He yelled suddenly, grabbing her leg and trying to pull her off of him. She didn’t move a single inch. The man’s eyes were getting wider, frantically trying to get out from underneath her foot, but it was no use. The more he struggled, the more weight he felt on his chest.

“You’re gonna—break— my ribs—“

“Oh, are you worried about that?” Radi smiled, leaning down so that she could properly survey the pathetic man, beaten down to his pure self. “I wouldn’t be.”

He had stopped struggling, and was now gasping for air, his eyes locked onto Radi’s, still covered with sunglasses.

“What’s your name?” She asked, taking a little bit of pressure off the man’s ribs. He started to quiet down once again, but the terror remained in his eyes.

“...F—f—f—Frank. Franklin.” He stammered.

“Mhm.” Radi muttered. “Well, Frank, I need you for something. You see—“ she brought her hand up to her face, and removed her sunglasses, revealing her inhuman eyes. “I’ve been gone for a very long time. This place? This entire city you live in, I used to rule over it.”  
Frank’s eyes are still locked onto hers. They had widened to the size of saucers when she revealed her eyes, but he didn’t make a noise.

The Radiance breaks her eye contact and stares ahead. “It’s a long, long story, but, in a few words, I’d like it back. I’ve already had my people taken from me by a Pale Wyrm, and now it seems it’s been taken from him. I’ve but all been forgotten.” She takes a deep breath. “I used to be somewhat of a forgiving, loving god. But all of the shit I’ve been dragged through made me who I am now.” she digs her heel into Frank’s chest again, and he lets out a strained gasp. Her eyes lock onto his again.

“I want you to find a few people for me.” she leers, tilting her head at Frank. He nods stiffly. “Four, to be accurate.” she glances over at the door before taking her foot off of his chest. He immediately sits up, gasping for air. It’s barely a second before the Radiance grabs the front of his shirt, steers him roughly over to the couch, and throws him down on it. He’s still panting, his eyes darting around frantically.

“Don’t try getting away.” Radi says. “That will only make things harder for you.”

He catches his breath, and finally speaks. “What are you going to do to me?”

“Nothing, if you cooperate.” she smiles. “I seem to have been struck by a bout of forgiveness. I’ll be merciful for once. All you need to do is find a few people for me.”

“...who?”

The Radiance turns away from him, and stares out the window. She scowls. “I want you to find the Pale King.” she begins. “He will be short, only barely 4 foot 5. Looks in his mid forties. Pale skin, and long white hair. Greyish eyes, and he likely goes by a different name. You’ll probably know when you find him.” she turns back towards Frank, her eyes narrowing. “Next, I’d like you to find the Hollow Knight. They also likely go by a different name. They’re very tall, over 6 feet, but they walk hunched over. They also have long, white hair and pale skin, but they’re missing an arm on their left side. They’re likely covering their left eye with something, because underneath it’s glowing orange. You’ll know when you see them.”

Radi waits for Frank to nod, and he does. “Third, I’d like you to find a man named Grimm. He’s also rather tall, but he stands straight and confident. Likely wearing something sharp. He’s got slicked black hair and pale skin, and he likely wears sunglasses, because his eyes are red with black slits.” she takes a breath. “You’ll know him when you see him.

“And lastly, I want you to find Hornet. The spider queen, they call her. She’s about five foot, younger looking and will not take shit from anyone. Pale skin, long white hair, and probably not known by Hornet.” Radi raises one eyebrow. “Do you understand me, Franklin?”

He nods stiffly.

“Good.” Her mouth curls into a smile. “Now, you must understand that I won’t tolerate any bullshit. This is what you do now. You serve me. I know where you are, I can sense you. If you try for a second to escape me, well… you don’t want to find out what I’m going to do.”

“...what would you do?”

The Radiance’s smile widens. “You have a mind, don’t you? I bet you’d like to keep it.”

A door on the right side of the apartment opens, and a man walks out, walking almost zombie-like. His mouth hangs limply open, and orange liquid drips slowly from his eyes. He walks over to the two of them, his face expressionless and dead. 

“This man attempted to rape me in an alleyway.” the Radiance said nonchalantly, grabbing the man’s hair and turning his head to face her. “I didn’t find him so deserving of forgiveness. His three friends who helped him are dead. But I preferred to give him a fate only slightly worse than death.”

She looks over at Frank, his face white with horror.

“Don’t disobey me, Franklin.” she said, letting go of the dead man’s head. It rolls onto his shoulder and he walks back through the door in the back. “Now, I’ll let you get to work. You do have quite a bit to do, after all.”

Radi sits down in the armchair across from Frank, watching him intently. “It’s time for you to go.”

“I don’t know where to start.” he mutters, still understandably terrified. “Ma’am, I can’t do this. I’m very sorry for my behavior, but I can’t help you. Let me go.”

The Radiance smiles. “You’re free to do so.”

“You know damn well what I meant!” he yells, standing up. He seems to find a new feeling of courage within him. This was just some woman, playing tricks on his mind. “I cannot and will not help you! I don’t know who you are or what you’re playing at, but I will not stand here idly.”

“You can and you will serve me.” she says, looking into his eyes with increasing annoyance.

“I will not serve you, woman.” he spits. “Besides, your kind was made to serve me.”

In a nanosecond, The Radiance is standing, towering over the man. There’s a burst of light, and her wings unfurl from her back, the wingspan stretching almost 20 feet. Her eyes light up, and she summons a sword from thin air, pointing it right at the man’s chin.

“HOW DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME THAT WAY!” her voice, distorted and furious, echoes through Frank’s ears. “I AM YOUR GOD! I AM THE GOD OF LIGHT, AND IF YOU EVER WISH TO SEE THE LIGHT AGAIN THEN I ADVISE THAT YOU ACCEPT YOUR ROLE IN THIS PATHETIC CITY’S DEMISE!”

She’s glowing with the light of the sun. Wind seems to have been created in the apartment. Frank wasn’t imagining this. This was real. He suddenly remembered why he had been so terrified a few minutes ago.

“Yes, ma’am.”

The wind ceased, and her glow dimmed. The sword evaporated, and she relaxed her wings, but didn't withdraw them. “You will address me as, ‘my Lord.’” 

“Yes, my Lord.” he stands, and bows low to her, without really realizing why. “I’ll be going now.”

“Good.” her eyes narrow. “Come back when you’ve found something interesting, otherwise, don’t waste my time.”

“Of course.” he swallows, and leaves the room quickly before Radi can change her mind.

The Goddess takes a deep breath, and her wings disappear as she sits back down in the armchair. She waits for a moment, before closing her eyes.

It’s likely that the Pale King is dead. But there’s always the small chance that he might still be somewhere in this city. There’s no way he would have just let his kingdom fall to ruin, and then have someone else build a city on top of it. If he somehow did survive the fall of Hallownest, he’s definitely not doing anything of great importance right now. But the Radiance wanted a word with him if he was still alive. Yeah, she wanted to tell him she was back, and that he couldn’t do anything about it, but most of all she wanted to say it was his fault for loving the Hollow Knight that they failed. She wanted to tell him that despite the fact that he cared for his child, he rarely showed it, and it made almost no difference anyway. She wanted to tell him that she used him to corrupt his magnificent creation.

She took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. She let herself drift into the dream realm, wanting to find a presence, any presence, of the remainder of Hallownest.


	5. The Kingsoul

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet reminds Ghost of their past.

Hornet had taken her sibling home on her motorcycle. Normally she wouldn’t have, since it was pretty much illegal, but this was no ordinary day. Her mind was racing, her heart was pounding, and she felt herself shaking. _Shit. oh, shit_ , was all she could think. There was nothing to distract her from the looming, complete, blinding doom they were facing. And this time, they were completely unprepared.

She stopped the motorcycle with a skid in front of the apartment building. The two hopped off as Hornet pulled it into the alley and chained it up. Surprisingly, it had never been stolen, but to be fair it was tied with spider silk, and that was pretty hard to cut with bolt cutters. She placed a dirty blanket over it, and then led Ghost up the stairs to their apartment. She unlocked the door and bolted it when they were both inside, and then immediately turned towards Ghost’s small bedroom. In it was a small bed with a blue quilt and a dresser, but that was it. There was, however, a small closet on one side, the handles tied tight together with silk. Hornet reached out and touched the handles, and the silk seemed to disintegrate with her touch. She slowly opened the closet doors. They stuck to the doorframe and creaked as they were opened. Dust fell from the ceiling as they rattled open. A few spiders resting on the floor skittered away. Huge cobwebs hung from the ceiling, and the floor was covered with a thick coating of dust. 

“Oh, gods.” Hornet muttered. She reached for two outfits hanging in the closet. They were the only clothes in the closet, but there were a few other things too, all coated with dust. There was a thin box sitting on the shelf above, next to a bigger box. On the floor, there was a single sword, expensive-looking and nicely carved. 

She took everything out of the closet and placed it on Ghost’s bed, coughing. “The time has come.” she looked down at one of the outfits. It was a dark red cloak, hanging over a red tunic, sleeves made of wrapped cloth draping down and over the black pants and laced boots at the end. 

Hornet’s old outfit. There was something captivating about it, especially to Hornet. It was immaculately crafted from silk and tailored specifically for her. It was a reminder of Hallownest, of deepnest, and of her mother. 

She turns to the other outfit. This outfit is similar, save for the color. The tunic of this is a dull blue, and the cloak is made of long, separated strands of fabric. Black pants and brown boots are attached to the hanger as well. There’s a satchel and a sash, specifically for charms, hung over the entire thing.

Ghost’s ancient outfit. They haven’t worn it once in this lifetime, but when they were in Hallownest before they vanquished the Radiance, it was all they wore. Back then, It wasn’t so odd looking. 

Hornet turned to her sibling, before grabbing the thin box and putting it in front of him. She brushed off the dust, and opened the box. The box itself was rather pretty-- it was grey, with the Hallownest crest imprinted upon the lid. Inside, the box was velvet red, lined with circular charms. They all stayed surprisingly shiny, despite the dust on everything else. 

“Does this look familiar, little Ghost?” Hornet asked, looking at the charms. The little child reached into the box, and took out one of the charms, one by the name of quick slash. They look blankly at the charm for a moment, before nodding.

“...Good.” Hornet sighs in relief. She was worried this reincarnated version of her sibling wasn’t the one who had vanquished the Radiance centuries ago. She was pretty sure, but there was always the chance. But these were the same charms they had collected at that fateful time. She knew it was them. 

Hornet reached over toward the other box, and opened it. She unfolded a large map, filled with scribbles and markers and even an entire section added on. There was a quill folded within it, and it fell out onto the bed as she unraveled the map.

“Does this look familiar.” Hornet said, placing the old map in front of Ghost. They pick up the quill, and examine it for a moment, before looking up and carefully examining the map. Their eyes flit to the top, where a small town is labeled dirtmouth. Their eyes then flit down to the bottom, to the added on section labeled “the abyss.” and then they look near the middle, at the blue lake, then above it, at the black egg temple. They nod again.

Hornet stays quiet for a moment. “Do you remember who you were?”

The little Ghost looks over at the dusty sword. They pick it up, and look at it in their hand. They feel the weight of the hilt, and they wave the sword slowly in front of them. It felt familiar, the sensation of swinging the sword. A memory resurfaces within their mind. A quick flash. 

“Strike me down. In my final moments of life, I wish to feel the blade’s exquisite edge.” An old, low voice echoes in their mind. They see a man, strong and ancient, standing in front of them, at the edge of a cliff. He’s got dark skin and a large white beard. The Nailsmith. He faces away from the vessel, and stretches his arms to the ceiling. 

Then the memory is over. Ghost is left in the bedroom, staring at the sword.

“Do you…”

They shake their head. Nothing else comes back to them. Perhaps they needed more from their old life to remember who they were. As far as they were concerned, they meant nothing. Hornet had told them they were important. That they had a duty to Hallownest, and that they saved it once, they would save it again. But they didn’t remember anything. 

Occasionally he saw flashes, but they were few and far between. The last memory was the longest to ever play out. Normally it was just just a flash, a person from their previous life. 

Hornet sighed. They needed to find out who they once were so that they could get rid of the Radiance once again. They had to, otherwise they were all doomed.

“It doesn’t matter.” She sighed. “In the meantime, we have to get you back into shape.” She grabbed her old outfit. “Put yours on. Tonight we’re dueling.”

…

It was midnight when the two of them left the apartment and headed down into the parking lot. There was one under the building where most people put their cars, but people rarely ever used them anyway, so the lot was devoid of people most of the time. 

Now, in the back, there stood two figures, standing 10 feet away from each other. Hornet stood on one side, in a red cloak, with a long, thin sword resembling a needle within her hand. Silk was tied on the end, connected to her hip. Across from her was her sibling, standing still and at attention. They had equipped two charms— longnail and quick slash. The box of charms was sitting out on the wall— tape was laid around them to mark the dueling section.

“Rubber over your sword.” Hornet said, placing a piece over her needle so that it wouldn’t hurt her sibling. “Leaving the tape means I win, try to get as many hits on me as possible without leaving the tape. Got it?”

Ghost nods. They hold their sword aloft, staring at Hornet. Their glasses are gone, leaving their dark, soulless eyes exposed. Hornet didn’t want them getting in their way.

“One. Two. Three.” She counts off, then immediately diving toward her sibling. They dash out of the way, as she rolls back onto her feet. They share a quick look, before Hornet zips up to the wall and dashes back down to the floor, landing behind them and landing a hit on their legs. Their legs buckle, but they slide between Hornet’s legs and plant two sharp jabs in her side. She inhales sharply, but quickly jumps away.

“Good, but you want to do that without your enemy landing a hit.” She advises. Quickly, she jumps to the side and rushes toward Ghost, her eyes narrowed and determined. Ghost slides underneath her, but Hornet, expecting this, turns abruptly, swiping at their stomach. They narrowly avoid her attack, and jump back quickly, light on their feet.

“You have to be unpredictable.” Hornet says, circling her sibling like a predator. “Dodge different ways.” It only just occurred to her that she was asking her opponent to think, something that they could never do, and was never meant to do. She didn’t think too hard about it, but she wondered if that advice actually meant anything to them.

She jumps into action again, jumping off the wall and zipping towards Ghost. She takes a swing at them, but they drop to their knees and the needle narrowly misses their nose. Hornet is on her feet again, quickly dashing towards them, her needle taking a quick swipe at their legs, but instead, they jump over her, flipping over, using her shoulder to steady themselves. Hornet, caught off guard, feels Ghost’s sword strike her side, knocking her off balance. She digs the point of her needle into the floor, her eyes on Ghost. They go after her, noticing a window for attack, and land one hit on her shoulder before she uses her leg to swipe under their feet. They fall on their back, recovering quickly, but Hornet is already up on her feet. 

“Well done.” She says. They had taken her advice, dodged differently. She wasn’t sure it was because of what she said, or that it was just more convenient to dodge that way, but she was thankful nonetheless.

Hornet strings some silk into her hand, before dodging to the left of Ghost. They slide back, and Hornet pursues them. Hornet slides onto her back to kick their legs out from under them, and as expected, they jump over her like a jump rope, but Hornet releases the silk from her hand, and it wraps around their ankle. Instead of landing gracefully, their leg is pulled out from underneath them, and they fall forward onto the concrete. Hornet pulls them across the ground and flips herself over, flinging Ghost into the air and bringing them back to the ground in one, swift motion. If they could speak, Ghost would have let out a pained grunt, but quickly, getting onto their feet, they swung their leg forward, knocking Hornet off balance. They backflipped into the air, taking a sharp slice at Hornet’s shoulder, before positioning themself into a dive position. From there, their whole form changed. Their figure became dark and shadowy, as their eyes turned white. Sharply, their figure smashed the floor, creating a shockwave with a diameter of at least 15 feet. The force of it knocked Hornet off her feet, and sent her into the air. She landed outside of the radius, lightly, but in utter shock. A pleased sort of shock, but a shock nonetheless.

She took heavy breaths until Ghost’s form returned to normal, and they got back into a light-footed stance. Then they let their sword drop to their side, and stared at the tape on the floor. Hornet had been knocked out of the marked off area.

“Little Ghost…” she breathed. She still felt weak from the shockwave. What a powerful spell that was. “You can still do that?”

They looked at their hands, and nodded.

Hornet chuckled. She got to her feet and walked over to Ghost, and picked them up by the armpits, swinging them around with glee. “Thank the gods!” she put them back on the floor, smiling. “You have no idea how helpful that is.”

They shared a quick look, before Hornet heard the creaking of a door a few parking spots down.

“Oh, shit.” she whispered. “Come.” she ushered Ghost over behind one of the cars, grabbing the box of charms on her way. The tape was left on the floor, but she figured they wouldn’t really question it. She looked over at her sibling, and then quickly reached in her pocket for sunglasses. “Put these on. If they see us, we’re cosplayers or something.”

She waits for the footsteps to die off, before she walks out from behind the car. “I guess we should go back up.” Hornet tucks the box under her arm, and peels the tape off the floor. The two of them go back upstairs, and back into the apartment. Both of them put away the swords and the box. Hornet makes herself a cup of black coffee, and sits at the dining table. It’s dark outside, and the clock is ticking, slowly, loudly over the quietly chirping crickets outside. She looks tired- she had changed into a turtleneck sweater and a soft pair of grey sweatpants. The door to Ghost’s bedroom opens, and they walk out, wearing a dark grey hoodie and jeans. Hornet slides a small cup of hot chocolate towards them as they hop up onto the chair across from her. It’s not like they needed to eat, the vessels, but Hornet didn’t like sitting there by herself, while Ghost stared at her unsettlingly.

They sat in silence for a moment, taking small sips of their drinks. Hornet listened intently to the soft ticking of the clock. 

“Little Ghost…” she started, looking down at the table. “I know I’ve told you before that you’ve saved Hallownest once. And you’re going to have to do it again.” She takes another sip. “And I’m pretty sure that time is soon.”

They look up at her.

“...I’m not quite sure what to say.” She sighs. “You don’t know the whole story, do you? You don’t remember it all?”

Her sibling shakes their head. They only remembered flashes, and they only knew what Hornet told them, which was that they had vanquished the Radiance from Hallownest centuries ago, died, and was reborn only ten years ago. She didn’t tell them how or why they managed to do so.

“Long, long ago, there was a civilization, born from the darkness. They worshipped the darkness, they called it the Void.” Hornet began. “They died off. We don’t know very much about them. But they’ll come into play later.” she took a deep breath. “After then, a new tribe was born, nicknamed the moth tribe. They worshipped the god of light, a higher being known as the Radiance. The ancient Enemy of the Void. Years later, another Higher being, a pale being, made his debut in Hallownest. Taking on the form of a common person, he created the Kingdom of Hallownest, and tamed the once savage beasts who roamed this land. He gave them the gift of intelligence and free will. Soon, the moth tribe joined him. They turned their backs on the Radiance, and forgot her. For many years, Hallownest was at peace. That was until a single citizen of Hallownest found a statue of the Radiance, at Hallownest’s crown. They began to remember the Radiance, and she started to spread through the minds of Hallownest’s citizens.”

She took a long sip of her coffee. “Are you following me?”

Ghost nodded.

“Good.” she sighed. “The pale being who created Hallownest, known as the Pale King, knew he had to act upon this infection, they called it. He wanted to create a mindless being to trap the Radiance inside of, and to do so, he had millions of his own offspring infused with the void. You are one of them.”

Ghost looks down at his hands, sitting on the table. 

“There was only one being that he thought was truly devoid of emotion.” Hornet continued. “He called them the Hollow Knight. He trained them to their prime, and trapped the Radiance inside of them. They, in turn, were imprisoned inside the Black Egg Temple, to keep anyone who might want to let them out from doing so.”

She took another sip of her coffee. “There were also three dreamers who helped seal the Hollow Knight inside the temple. Monomon the teacher, Lurien the watcher, and Herrah the beast. They were each placed, dreaming, inside their preferred places, protected by their servants placed near them.” She pushed a few strands of hair out of her eyes, and looked down at the table. “Herrah would only become a dreamer if the Pale King had a child with her. I was born as a result of their dalliance.”

She looked back up. “Everything was in order. The infection was contained. Hallownest would last eternally...only it didn’t. For some reason, the Hollow Knight wasn’t able to contain it. The Pale King failed. Hallownest fell to the infection. Only a few people held out and resisted the Radiance’s allure. I was one of them. I held on to hope, perhaps it was futile, but I did nonetheless. I wasn’t sure what I was hoping for. I spent my time traveling Hallownest, preventing vessels, like you, from getting into the Black Egg Temple. I had come across many lonely vessels during my time in Hallownest, but none of them but you could best me.”

Hornet looked into Ghost’s dark, emotionless eyes. They were looking back at her, listening, probably. “There was nothing remarkable about you when we first met. I had no expectations for you. But you beat me that time with ease. My interest was piqued. I watched you travel throughout the kingdom, I watched your skillful maneuvering. While I was watching you, I realized there could be a way to defeat her. I just had to test you to see if you were truly capable of it. So we dueled at the edge of the Kingdom, and you won. You burned the mark of the king upon yourself, and gained access to the Abyss, your birthplace. It had been locked for several years, by the king after he claimed the Hollow Knight from there. You draped yourself in the shadow of the abyss, in a cloak made of void. You carry it within you to this day.”

Ghost takes a small sip of the hot chocolate. They looked at their hand, and shook it slightly. A small, barely noticeable dark shadow trailed from their hand, remnants of void.

“After then, you claimed two pieces of a charm known as the Kingsoul.” she continues. “I wasn’t quite sure what it was until later. You picked up one half from the White Lady, the Pale King’s wife, another higher being. The other half you picked off of the Pale King himself inside his palace, which he moved to the dream realm. With the power of the kingsoul, you returned to the abyss, and united your siblings against the Radiance. With that power, you entered the Black Egg Temple, and with my help, entered the Hollow Knight’s mind. I was knocked unconscious after that. When I awoke, you were dead. Your body was lying motionless within the temple. Your eyes were glossy, completely lifeless.”

Hornet takes a deep breath. She’s nearly finished with the story. “The Hollow Knight wasn’t dead, but I couldn’t help them. I left the temple. I noticed the infection had receded. The infection had been leaking out of the temple, and it had receded back, but it wasn’t gone. It wasn’t spreading, but it was still there, like a stain on the kingdom. That’s how I knew she’d be back eventually. I waited patiently for that day. Centuries went by. Humans began to build atop the kingdom, without really knowing what they were building on top of. This city is built atop Hallownest. I figured when the Radiance came back, they would be here. And so I waited.”

She took yet another sip of coffee. She was nearing the bottom. “My patience was rewarded when I found you a few years ago being escorted out of a bookstore. I was ecstatic, but I knew it meant that the Radiance was only a few years or less away from returning.”

She finishes the coffee, before reaching behind her head and grabbing her hair. It was pulled into a tight bun behind her head with silk. Ghost had never seen her without her hair tied back-- in fact, nobody had. Nobody at all within the last few centuries. Slowly, she undid her hair, and it fell gracefully onto her shoulders. But there was something else she took from her hair. It was a charm, the same size as the ones kept in that box. It was white, and loosely resembled a person with a turban. 

“This is the Kingsoul.” she said, placing it on the table. “When you entered the abyss to unite your siblings, this fused with you permanently to become what was called the Void Heart. When I woke up to your dead body, this was beside it. I assume your connection to the void was severed with your death. Perhaps you can fuse with it again now.”

Ghost looked at the charm on the table. They picked it up, and looked at it. Yes, they felt a connection to it, but nothing too powerful. They clutched the charm to their chest, and felt a surge of energy within them, but it wasn’t the void. 

“Do you feel anything?” 

They did feel something, but it wasn’t the feeling Hornet was looking for. They shook their head, but kept the charm close to their heart. 

Hornet sighed. “I’ve kept that charm with me for my entire life since your death. Use it if you must, but if you won’t, I’ll keep it safe. It’s too important to lose.”

Ghost looked down at the charm, but didn’t give it back. Instead, They turned around and walked into the bedroom. Hornet watched from the kitchen silently as Ghost opened their closet and took out their charm sash. They took off the hoodie they wore and draped the sash over their bare chest, tightening it so that it won’t show through their shirt. They placed the charm in one of the notches, before putting their shirt and hoodie back on.

“That works.” Hornet says. She stands up, and takes both of the cups, one half full and one empty, and places them in the sink. “Get some rest. I know you don’t really need it, but see if you can remember anything. I’m going to go to bed.”

Ghost nods, and closes the door to their room. Hornet went to her bedroom, but didn’t sleep. She only laid awake in the dark room, thinking. She definitely should have slept, but she couldn’t, not when the Radiance was back, probably already spreading throughout the city.

It would be in the news if the infection was spreading. She made a mental note to check that tomorrow. She was begging inside her mind.

_Please. I’m begging you. Give me something to hold onto._


	6. The Station

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Hollow Knight is taken in for questioning.

The Hollow Knight hears someone walking around near him. There’s far off conversations coming from one side of the room. Their hearing feels enhanced. They suddenly become very aware of the cold metal on their skin. Their eyes blink open. They felt strangely calm, and best of all, they couldn’t feel the Radiance’s influence at all. It was strange-- her influence was so strong before they passed out yesterday.

That was yesterday? Were they really asleep for that long?

“Oh, you’re up! Thank god. We really do need some information for that bizarre case.” the Hollow Knight looked around. They were in a cage--no, a prison cell. The officer who spoke was looking at them through the bars. He looked relatively friendly, but the Hollow Knight wasn’t really a fan of people by any extent. 

“So, you ready?” he asked. Hollow stared back at him. “Come on, we don’t got all day.”

They stood up, but didn’t start toward the door. The officer came over to unlock their door, as they brought their hand up to their left eye. It was uncovered, but it wasn’t dripping with infection. They walked over to the toilet in the corner of the room and eyed their reflection in the water. The infection in their eye was gone.

“Come with me, big guy.” the officer told them. Hollow turned back toward him, and stopped in front of the door. “Normally we’d handcuff you, but seeing as you only have one arm…”

The guy shrugged and took him out of the cell. A few other people sat inside of a cell, speaking in drunken tones with each other. Hollow tried to shrink themselves down, disappear like they tried to at their job.

They were led into a room with a wooden table and a chair on either side of it. There was a mirror lining one of the walls. The officer led the Hollow Knight into one of the chairs, and they sat down obediently. 

“Now you just wait here for a bit. Somebody’s going to come in and ask you a few questions.” the officer pat Hollow’s shoulder before turning toward the door. He considered something for a second, before turning back and handcuffing Hollow to the chair.

They were very aware of their surroundings. The hum of the air conditioner felt deafening. They shivered as they felt a small gust of air ruffle their hair. They could hear themselves breathing. In and out, in and out.

The door creaked open again, and another man walked in. He was a bald man wearing a uniform, and he looked relatively tired. He was carrying a brown file.

“Jesus…” he muttered, sitting across from Hollow. “You have no idea the drama you’ve stirred up about here.”

He put the file in front of Hollow, and opened it. There wasn’t a lot inside, just a picture of Hollow and a bit of information about them. “I’ve been getting questions from all my coworkers all day about you. This feels like an episode of a cop drama or something.”

He looked up at the Hollow Knight. “I’m officer Wilde, but you can just call me Bill while we’re in here, mkay?”

Hollow nodded, without really processing anything the officer just said.   
Their hand was gripping the chair’s arm, impatient for something to do.

“So… it says here in your File that your name is Samuel Richard Davidson, is that correct?”

Hollow had never heard that name in their life. Was it their legal name? They didn’t recall ever even getting a legal name. But they had to have gotten it from somewhere. They only ever remembered people calling them boy, or “you,” or on the rare occasion, mister. Where had that name even come from?  
Hollow nodded though, figuring that nodding was the correct course of action.

“Okay… and you are 43 years old?”

Hollow nodded again, despite not knowing where that number came from.

“And it says here that you served in the military, which was how you lost your arm and your… eye.”

Where was this information coming from? Hollow didn’t remember ever writing it down. He nodded again. The Military story seemed plausible.

“But you have two perfectly fine looking eyes.” Bill commented.

Hollow did note that. They shouldn’t have two perfectly good eyes, one should be infected. What happened to that?

The Officer sighs, and looks back down at the file. “Tell me where you are employed.”

Hollow opened their mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Where was the Radiance when you needed her? For once in their life, Hollow wanted the Radiance to intervene.

“Sir, I’m gonna need you to talk.”

Hollow looked at the file. A minute passed, before the officer opened the file again and began to read.

“Ah! It says here that you’re mute. My bad. I’m going to ask you yes or no questions, and if I need you to write anything down I’ll let you. That sound good?”

Hollow nodded. 

“Good, good.” he took a pen out of his coat, and poised it over the paper. “You work at The Haddison NightClub, do you not?”

A nod.

“And are you aware of where you were last night?”

They considered this for a moment. They went to their job, began cleaning the restrooms, and couldn’t remember much else. Oh, wait. They had felt the Radiance’s influence and they submitted to her. They didn’t know what happened after that.

They nodded.

“Okay…” he processed this. “Do you know if anything transpired between yourself and your boss last night?”

Hollow thought. They remembered flashes of him, his manager, from last night, but they weren’t sure if they were just visions or memories of what happened.

They shook their head.

“Did you have anything against your manager at all? Did you have any desire to see him suffer?” Bill asked.

Hollow shook their head enthusiastically. They had never wished death upon anybody. Despite their entire purpose being to battle the Radiance for eternity, they weren’t a violent being. They liked to avoid conflict, and when yelled at or threatened, they never fought back. 

“Uh huh.” Bill tapped the pen on the table. “No desire whatsoever?”

Hollow nodded in confirmation.

“Then please tell me why your manager was found strangled to death with your handprints on his neck?”

Hollow froze. They killed somebody? Why? How? They looked down at the table. How were they going to explain this? They knew it was the Radiance who made them do it, but why? There wasn’t any reason for her to dislike Hollow’s manager. How were they going to explain to this officer that they were being manipulated and controlled like a puppet by the god of light?

“We found you in the NightClub’s women’s restroom passed out next to your manager, who was dead. There was also a mysterious orange substance smeared across the floor and some of the walls. You were covered in it. We’re currently studying that substance in our lab.”

The Hollow Knight swallowed. Did they know they were dealing with something deadly there? They were sure the scientists didn’t know what the infection was. 

“Do you know anything about that substance?”

Hollow nods. 

“Okay.” Bill takes a notepad from his coat, and hands the pen and pencil to Hollow. He walks over to his side and uncuffs him from the chair. “What do you know about it?”

Hollow began to write, the thought that Bill definitely wasn’t going to believe their story seeping into their mind. It took them a minute to finish, and they slid the pad over to him.

“It’s a liquid manifestation of the god of light’s influence…” his voice trails off. “Do you have any history of any sort of mental disability?”

What a strange question to ask the Hollow Knight, considering they were born to not have a mentality whatsoever. But then again, here they were, generating a conscious stream of thought. They nodded.

Bill looked at the file again. “It doesn’t say here that you have any history of any mental disability…” 

Hollow took the pad back and wrote, “I was bred to be completely mindless, yet I am here, and I am thinking.”

He took the pad back, and read over it.

“Okay, I think I have enough information.” he mutters, standing up. “You can just sit tight right here.” he walked over and chained Hollow to the chair again.

Bill started toward the door, when someone opened it from the other side.

“Oh, hi, there’s someone here to see him.” the man at the door gestured to Hollow. “She says she’s his… fiancee, I think.”

“What?” Bill looked back at Hollow. “There’s no relationships in his file. Mister Samuel Davidson, do you have a fiancee?”

Hollow shook their head.

“What should I tell her then?”

“Say that we can’t have her meeting a convicted felon.”

“He’s not a convicted felon, sir.” the man at the door says.

“He’s about to be.” Bill sighs. He pushes the man out of the way and begins to walk down the hallway.

“Sir!” the new guy calls back. “There’s something else.”

Bill walks back. The two of them stand out in the hallway, a door open a crack. Hollow can still hear them loud and clear.

“We got the verdict back from our team of researchers.” Hollow hears.

“That was quick. What the hell is that substance then?”

“See, that’s the problem. They don’t know. The sample started hardening when it got to the lab, sort of like jello, they said. And then it started pulsing, like it was alive.”

“...what is it?”

“I told you, they don’t know!” the man says in frustration. “It doesn’t act like anything they’ve ever seen. They tried to look at it under a microscope, it’s… strangely volatile, they said.”

There’s a long moment of silence.

“Jesus.” Bill breathes. “This case is gonna be the death of me.”

Hollow can hear faint footsteps falling outside the door. Someone is in a hurry.

“Hey, you’re Officer Bill Wilde, are you not? You’re leading the case in the murder of Mr. George Reynolds, the manager of Haddison NightClub?” This voice was a woman’s. She sounded exasperated and out of breath, but well composed.

“Yes, who are you? And what are you doing down here, you shouldn’t be here. Who let you down here?” Bill asked, his voice somewhat angry.

“That’s the girl who wanted to see him.” the man said.

“He’s in there?” the girl replied. “I need to see him. Please.” the man must have gestured to the door when he mentioned Hollow.

“No. You can’t go in there.” Bill says. “And who is that little boy next to you?”

“My brother.” she answers. The longer she spoke, the more Hollow seemed to realize that her voice was familiar.

“We can’t let you speak to him, especially not with a child. This man is dangerous. You must understand that, don’t you, miss?”

“Don’t you ‘miss’ me, okay?” her voice got suddenly icy. “I’m going to see him. I assure you I won’t die, and I assure you he’s not dangerous. If you went in there and talked to him, I assure you I can do just the same.”

Hollow hears Bill bark a laugh. “Miss, you look barely 5 feet tall. The man in there is taller than me. I don’t think you can take him.”

Nobody speaks for a moment.

“Let me into that room.” the girl says again. “I don’t want to make this hard for you.”

“And I said no. Now please, my friend here will escort you out.”

“Don’t touch me!” she hissed suddenly.

“Ma’am, I--”

There’s a scraping sound outside, and a deep-toned grunt. There’s a few more indistinguishable noises, and the door swings open. The Hollow Knight makes eye contact with the woman who had been arguing with Bill. Her eyes go wide and her jaw drops.

“...Hollow?”


	7. The Reunion

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet takes a trip to the police station.

It was dusk outside. The sun was just barely peeking out over the horizon. Hornet was inside a bookstore-- it was cozy, but kind of cold. She was the last one in the store, other than the owner and a little boy who was sitting in the corner of the room. Hornet didn’t like children, and she didn’t know who he was, so she didn’t pay him any attention. The owner kept looking back at him, wondering why he was still there. He had been there for a while. Hornet wondered if his mom just forgot him.

“You finding everything okay?” the owner asked Hornet from behind.

“Yeah, sure.” she muttered, taking a book from one of the shelves and flipping through it. It was a children’s book. 

“Hey little guy, are you lost?” the owner started talking to the boy in the corner.

Hornet didn’t know why she spent so much time in this bookshop. She rarely bought anything. Occasionally she spoke to the owner. It was more like just a safe space for her. The owner didn’t mind. She didn’t usually pay much attention to Hornet. They just shared a simple understanding of each other.

“Hey, where’s your mom? I can call her if you know her phone number.” She was still talking to the boy. “I can help you if you just tell me what’s going on.”

Hornet was surprised he wasn’t crying, or even making any noise at all. She was grateful for that, but it was confusing nonetheless.

“I can just sit with you for a moment.” Hornet heard her say. “You don’t need to wear those sunglasses in here. Let me get those for you.”

Hornet was reading the spines of the books, when she heard something clatter to the floor in the corner of the room. “Oh my god.” the owner had dropped her sweet voice she had been using to talk to the boy. Hornet looked over at her from behind the shelf. The owner slowly got to her feet and walked over to her desk.

Hornet came from around the bookshelf to look at her. She looked back at the boy, and her heart stopped.

He was looking up at her with dark, soulless eyes. His hood dropped down slightly to reveal snow-white hair.

Could it possibly be…

“911? Yes, this is Greene’s books on 44--”

“Stop.” Hornet looked back at the owner. She made eye contact with her. “Call that off. The police don’t need to be involved.”

The owner’s eyes flit back to the boy’s. “But he’s not…”

“I know.” Hornet spoke, her voice getting hard. “Call it off.”

The owner took a deep breath, and put the phone back to her ear. “Nevermind. Sorry. I thought somebody was stealing something. It’s no big deal. I’m sorry to bother you.”

She hung up the phone. “The police are still going to come here, you know that.” she said to Hornet.

“I know.” Hornet nodded. “Oh my gods.”

“You know him?”

Hornet walked over to her sibling. She reached out and pulled them up to their feet. “Ghost.” she grabs their hood and pushes it back off their head. They didn’t change one bit. “You have no idea how much I’ve missed you.”

… 

Hornet had only gotten five hours of sleep last night. She woke up at four in the morning, and started to watch the local news. It mostly consisted of sponsorships and ads, with the occasional weather update. Hornet could tell they were desperate for something interesting to happen.

She started to doze off. Ghost was still in their room. They probably weren’t sleeping, but Hornet wanted to give them time alone. Perhaps it could jog their memory.

She was staring at the ceiling for who knows how long, when she heard a jingle on the TV. She looked up and at the screen.

“Breaking news; George Reynolds, one of the managers of the Haddison Night Club, was found murdered yesterday afternoon. His body was found in the women’s restroom, when people reported a strange smell coming from the room. The police had to break down the door, to find Mr. Reynolds dead and the janitor with him, unconscious. The NightClub’s janitor has been taken into custody.”

“Huh.” Hornet muttered. “Well isn’t that interesting.”

“The janitor has yet to reawaken, while the police examined the scene. A certain strange, bright orange substance was smeared over the walls. Scientists have taken a sample from the scene, which they plan on studying.”

Hornet was at full attention now. She heard the phrase “strange, bright orange substance,” which caught her attention. A picture of the scene was shown on the screen. There was yellow caution tape lining the doorframe, and sure enough, a bright, glowing orange substance looked like it had been sprayed over the floors.

“Oh god.” she muttered. She assumed that the Radiance had been there, but the crime scene didn’t make a whole lot of sense. Why would she kill the Manager instead of just infecting him? What was the deal with all the infection in the room?

Hornet had to speak with the janitor. Perhaps they knew something, anything. Hopefully the Radiance hadn’t been able to infect them.

“Ghost!” she yelled. In a quick minute, Ghost was out of their room and standing at full attention in front of Hornet.

“We’ve got someone to visit.” she stood up, and adjusted her shirt. “Sunglasses on. I think we have a lead.”

Ghost went back into their room to grab their glasses, while Hornet walked to the front door and waited. They came out, and the two of them left the apartment and walked downstairs in a hurry. Hornet took a sharp right at the bottom of the stairs, rushed out of the building, and took a turn into the alleyway where she placed her motorcycle. She grabbed the handles and pulled it easily from its web of silk, before hopping on and gesturing to Ghost for them to follow her.

The sun was above the horizon now, and it was relatively bright. There was a decent amount of people on the road, but it wasn’t rush hour just yet. Hornet revved the motorcycle before speeding out of the alley and onto the road. Ghost held on to her tightly as they zoomed down the road.

The police station was about 10 minutes away. Hornet didn’t want to risk getting arrested before she got there, so for once, she abided by the law and didn’t surpass slow moving cars on the road, despite her impatience. It was more like 15 minutes when she arrived, and parked the motorcycle rather crudely in between a Honda SUV and a Toyota.

The station was pretty big, and it had to be, considering the station was the only one within this huge city. It was a few floors tall, but the higher floors consisted mostly of offices and labs, so no citizens went up there.

Hornet kept her composure as she walked into the station. For this time in the morning, it was relatively busy. There was a lot of talking coming from the left side of the room, but Hornet figured that wasn’t where the Janitor was going to be.

She walked up to the desk in front. “Hello, ma’am?” she began politely. The woman at the counter looked down at her.

“What can I do for you?” she asked, a hint of exasperation slipping into her tone.

“I saw on the news today about the Janitor of the Haddison NightClub being arrested? See, he’s my fiance, and I’d really like to speak with him.” Hornet started. She didn’t even know if that was a plausible excuse to speak to him, but she had to try somehow.

“Sorry, we don’t allow visitors to people like him at a time like this.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He was just recently found at a crime scene, and he’s probably going to be facing the charge of 1st degree murder. We don’t let suspects like him see anyone, even if they are his fiancee.” she explains calmly. “I can write down your number and perhaps you can call him if you get the chance? I’ll give it to the officer leading the case.”

“Who is that?”

“Officer Bill Wilde. Now please, ma’am, I can invite you to sit in our lobby, or to go home. I’ll send somebody down to say that you’d like to speak with Mr. Davidson, but I very much doubt they’ll let you.”

She gets on the phone and dials a number, while Hornet goes to sit in a chair near the desk. “Yeah, there’s a woman here, she says she’s Mr. Davidson’s fiance.” she pauses. “I told her that.” another pause. “She’s here with a little boy. Okay. Well good day to you.”

She hangs up the phone as Hornet stands up. “Sorry, it’s a no go.”

Hornet wasn’t going to give up that easy.

“What a shame.” Hornet sighs. She taps Ghost’s shoulder a few times. “This would have been so easy!”

“I’m sorry ma’am, but it’s just simple protocol.” the lady said.

“I understand.” Hornet looked into her eyes, and smiled.

And then she bolted down the hallway.

“Hey!” the lady yelled back at her. Hornet was practically dragging Ghost with her, until they got to their feet and began to run at her pace.

“Stop that lady!” The woman’s voice was pretty far away now. Hornet could easily slide between officers chatting in the Hallway without disturbing them. Soon she made it to a relatively empty hallway, and anybody who was following her had probably lost her. Ghost was still by her side, surprisingly.

Hornet hurried down the hallway for a while, taking a few turns along the way. She reached an intersection after a bit where she could hear two people speaking. She stopped and listened in.

“...that’s the problem.” one of them was saying. “They don’t know. The sample started hardening when it got to the lab, sort of like jello, they said. And then it started pulsing, like it was alive.”

Hornet’s heart skipped a beat. They were talking about the infection.

“...what is it?” another voice asked.

“I told you, they don’t know! It doesn’t act like anything they’ve ever seen. They tried to look at it under a microscope, it’s… strangely volatile, they said.”

There’s a bit of silence between them.

“Jesus. This case is gonna be the death of me.” the other man said.

Hornet had heard enough. She rounded the corner and caught up with the two of them.

“Hey,” she said immediately. “You’re Officer Bill Wilde, are you not? You’re leading the case in the murder of Mr. George Reynolds, the manager of Haddison NightClub?” Hornet said in a somewhat chipper voice. She was hiding her distaste.

“Yes, who are you? And what are you doing down here, you shouldn’t be here. Who let you down here?” Bill turned to her, his eyebrows furrowed. He looked annoyed. _Oh, I’ll show you annoyed_ , Hornet thought.

“That’s the girl who wanted to see him.” the man next to him said, gesturing to the slightly cracked open door.

“He’s in there?” Hornet replied. “I need to see him. Please.” she added the “please” as a half-hearted attempt at politeness. 

“No. You can’t go in there.” Bill says. “And who is that little boy next to you?”

“My brother.” Hornet says. This, at least, was true.

Bill scowled. “We can’t let you speak to him, especially not with a child. This man is dangerous. You must understand that, don’t you, miss?”

“Don’t you ‘miss’ me, okay?” Hornet felt her voice get bitter. She bent her legs into a fighting stance out of habit. “I’m going to see him. I assure you I won’t die, and I assure you he’s not dangerous. If you went in there and talked to him, I assure you I can do just the same.”

He barks a cold laugh. “Miss, you look barely 5 feet tall. The man in there is taller than me. I don’t think you can take him.”

Was that a challenge? Hornet couldn’t take it any other way. She looked back at Ghost for a second. They just tilted their head. 

“Let me into that room.” Hornet asks plainly. “I don’t want to make this hard for you.”

“And I said no. Now please, my friend here will escort you out.” Bill reaches out his hand and places it on Hornet’s shoulder. She flinches away.

“Don’t touch me!” she hissed.

“Ma’am, I--” he starts to speak, but Hornet’s done playing. She brings her knee up into the officer’s crotch, and he keens over, groaning. She elbows him back into the wall, the handcuffs chained to his waist making a scraping sound as they slide down the wall.

The other man who Bill was talking to springs up, but Hornet puts him down just as easily. She grabs his fist and spins him until he’s right up against the wall. At that moment, Ghost jumps in and keeps him down.

Hornet immediately turns toward the door and throws it open. The man at the table looks at her, and her breath stops.

Truly, she had imagined that the janitor at the NIghtClub was nothing more than a poor, innocent man who had gotten himself caught within the Radiance’s eternal quest for revenge. But this was a vessel. And not just any vessel.

“...Hollow?” Hornet stammered, looking into their eyes. They didn’t look too different from when she last saw him centuries ago in the black egg temple. Long white hair, the hunched over posture, the foreboding yet calming demeanor. He was still missing an arm, and his free hand was chained to the chair. The only thing different about him were his eyes, which were completely normal, like Hornet’s.

“Oh my gods.” Hornet stepped forward and looked into their eyes. “Do you recognize me?” she felt herself smiling.

Hollow nodded. Hornet laughed a little, and wrapped her arms around them. “I thought you were dead…”

Hornet heard the handcuffs that were chaining Hollow to the chair break like they were made of paper. She felt his arm wrap around her. For a moment, it was just the two of them, siblings reunited after centuries of separation. 

Then Hornet felt someone tearing her away from her sibling. “Let go. If you don’t let go of each other now there will be dire consequences.” Bill’s voice was hard and sour. 

“We’ll get you out of here.” Hornet whispered, low enough so only Hollow could hear her. She let go of him, not really wanting to find out what those dire consequences were.

“Miss I’m gonna have to ask you to leave or I’ll be forced to arrest you. You’ve pushed the limits far enough.” 

“Of course.” Hornet’s demeanor changed on a whim. “I just had to see to make sure he was okay, that’s all.”

“You might want to consider getting a new fiancee.”

“Of course, sir.” Hornet smiled at him. The two looked each other in the eye, and they both thought, inexplicably, at the exact same time, that this wasn’t the last they would be seeing of each other.

Hornet walked back down the Hallway and out the front door. The lady who had been there earlier wasn’t there anymore. Hornet wondered vaguely where she had gone, but she was more invested in her promise to the Hollow Knight. She hadn’t lied to them, they were going to break them out of the prison, but when, and how? That was her second priority, after training Ghost to their peak again. During their training, she would plan the escape.

Bill watched as the mysterious woman left down the hallway. His head spun. Nothing made sense. He just got the shit beat out of him by a woman that was barely 5 feet tall. He had watched his suspect effortlessly break the handcuffs that kept him from just walking out of the door. He was just told that an alive, breathing substance was found at his crime scene. 

Amidst all this strange phenomena, a silly thought came into his mind.

What if they made this a movie?


	8. The King

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance visits her old enemy.

The Radiance was looking out the window of her apartment on the 27 floor. Technically, it wasn’t hers, per say, but she had eliminated the previous owner, and in her eyes, that made the apartment rightfully hers. She was drumming her fingers against her thigh, taking in the view. It was nothing like Hallownest, and as much as she despised the Pale King, she couldn’t help but miss his architecture. What had happened to the people so that their structures became so ugly? The air wasn’t clean enough. It smelled artificial. The Radiance wrinkled her nose at the skyline. 

She had spent that night pacing the apartment, thinking about how she would go about reclaiming her kingdom. She thought about the joy it would bring her to tear down all this ugly architecture and watch nature reclaim the city. This time, she’d be physically there to experience it all. It would be beautiful.

There was a knock on her door. She wasn’t quite sure how much time had passed since she let Franklin leave the apartment to look for the four people she sought. Dying and spending centuries within the dream realm waiting for her power to return made time meaningless to her.

“Come in.” She announced. The door creaked open, but she didn’t turn around to look who it was. She could sense him. “Have you brought any information?” She hoped he did, otherwise he was just wasting her time.

“Yes… my lord.” Franklin stammered.

The Radiance turned around, her hair grazing her shoulder. “Ah, you can cut the formalities. We’re friends now, aren’t we?”

He took a deep breath. “Of course.”

The Radiance took a step forward, placing her hands behind her back. She was eyeing Frank with narrowed eyes, like an eagle might eye their prey. A faint smile was painted on her face. “What do you have for me?”

He stared at her feet. “I found someone… I think. They’re at the hospital near the edge of the city.”

“Look me in the eyes when you speak to me.” Radi commanded before considering this information. “A hospital? How’d they get in there?”

“I don’t know. I’m pretty sure it’s because they’re retarded.” Frank looks up at Radi, into her glowing eyes. If Radi had known he used an offensive slur then she probably would have hit him, but she wasn’t aware of all of the new words created just yet.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know.” He shrugged, his tone getting slightly annoyed. He made sure not to make it too noticeable, but the Radiance took note of it anyway. “He had long white hair.”

“Was he missing an arm?” Radi would have reprimanded him for his tone, but she was too curious. 

“No.” Franklin answered. 

“Then it must be the Pale King.” she muttered, placing her hands into her pockets. “You’re going to drive me there right now.”

“But… I don’t think--”

“You will.” she states. She pierces him again with that intense stare. He swallows.

“Of course…” Frank is at a loss for what to call her.

“I am the Radiance.” she says. “Radi, for short. But you won’t shorten my name, will you?” she smiles sweetly, her eyes shooting daggers.

“Of course not, Radiance.” He takes a very short bow and leads her out of the apartment. 

“I must ask, how did you find him in such a short amount of time?”

Frank swallows again. “I was… uh, looking in old city records in the town hall. My cousin works there. He let me in to look at them.”

“I see.” the two of them get into the elevator. The Radiance pulls some sunglasses out of her pants and places them over her eyes. “Now, you didn’t tell your dear cousin about our contract, did you?”

“No. No I didn’t.”

“Good boy.” Radi smiles, and pats his shoulder. Frank’s face goes white. He’s in genuine fear at that moment.

The elevator door opens and the two of them step out. Frank’s feet seem to walk for him, and he doesn’t give a second thought to where he’s going. He leads her out of the apartment and towards his car. What was he doing? This woman was a murderer. Why was he harboring her? She could and would kill him if she needed to. He stood to gain nothing from this contract. He was doing this out of fear.

He was in the car before he knew it, turning the keys. The Radiance got in beside him, her legs too long to stretch out, so she folded them up and placed her hand on her knees. 

Why, why, WHY did he ever approach her in that bar? She was a monster. At that time he didn’t know monsters could be so damn beautiful.

“Tell me more about how you found him.” Even folded up in Franklin’s car, she still managed to look intimidating. She licked her lips as her eyes bored onto Frank’s. “What are you doing? Start driving.”

He nodded and started to back out of the parking lot. “Well, I looked at the files... and found him.”

“Do you take me for an idiot? Elaborate.”

She could tell he wasn’t telling the whole story. Perhaps he should just get it over with.

“I thought all of the people you told me to find sounded like insane people, so I went into the mental hospital’s records and started looking.” he says in one long breath.

Radi closes her eyes, and chuckles. “You found the Pale King’s hiding place out of pure pettiness? Oh, how ironic.”

“It wasn’t pettiness.”

“I beg to differ.” Radi’s pupils bore onto Franklin. “Did you not look in the mental hospital’s records simply because you thought the people I asked you to locate didn’t fit your standards of mental stability?”

He doesn’t speak. The light they had been sitting at turned green. 

“Of course you did.” Radi looks back to the window. “You’re close-minded, my friend. But don’t worry. I can pry you open soon enough.”

Frank’s eyes flit toward Radi for a moment. He goes stiff. That sounded like a threat, but she spoke it so casually. They didn’t speak to each other for the rest of the ride.

…

The Pale King wasn’t really crazy. He was in the mental hospital because he wanted to be. It was really his ideal place within this city. The cleanliness of the ward pleased him. He simply acted insane to keep himself from needing to provide for himself. He was good at acting insane, since when he first returned to this city he wasn’t in his best state. He had wandered the streets in his shredded robe from centuries ago. It only took a few days for him to find himself a place in the hospital. He’s been there ever since, and he really couldn’t think of a better place for himself to stay.

He had woken up a while ago, gotten breakfast, and returned to his room all in this day. He was throwing a ball up into the air over and over again, while sitting on his bed. Every time one of the ward nurses showed up to take him somewhere, he would adopt a frail, sickly demeanor. He’d start to mutter and shiver, speak nonsense. It worked to trick the nurses, and everyone began to see him as someone who was truly insane, truly beyond repair. Someone who was in this hospital simply to keep him from wandering the streets.

The only time he was himself was alone in his room. Unfortunately, he barely even knew who he was anymore. He wasn’t the same person he was when he ruled over Hallownest. 

The door to his room opened, and he let the ball drop to the floor. He began to shiver on the bed.

“Hey, little man… you’ve got some visitors.” the nurse walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder.

He didn’t let his surprise show through his act. Visitors? Who? Maybe they just had him mistaken for someone else. Unlikely, but plausible.

PK got up off the bed, hunched over and shivering. “This time I’ll get her, she’ll be able to pay for what she’s done to everybody--” he began to mutter. Of course, all of his mutterings had something to do with Hallownest. Nobody knew that, so it was nonsense to everyone else. 

“Hey…” the nurse patted his back as she led him out of the room and down the hallway. “Deep breaths. It’ll be fine, I know you’re nervous.”

The Pale King kept up his act until he got to the room where he’d meet his visitors. It was clean, white, similar to how all the other rooms looked. There were two chairs on the other side of the table he was on. He continued to tremble as the nurse left the room. PK looked around the room for any cameras, before sighing and stopping his incessant trembling.

He heard the door open and immediately resumed his shivering. A man walked in-- middle aged, with messy brown hair. He didn’t look at all familiar. His eyes were wide though, almost like he didn’t want to be here.

“Well… hi.” his eyes started to dart around the room as he sat down. “I have no idea why she wanted to talk to you, by the way. I just want to say that I had no choice.”

What a strange choice of words. PK didn’t understand anything he just said.

The door opened again, and a woman came in. She closed the door behind her, before turning again toward PK. He got a good look at her. She was huge, at least 7 feet tall. She wore sweatpants and a hoodie, and she had long, beautiful blonde hair. She wore extremely dark sunglasses over her eyes. She had a strange familiarity about her, but the Pale King was very sure he had never seen her before.

They stared at each other for a moment, PK continuing to shiver. Then she smiled. It was a small smile, made entirely of pity. “You’re pathetic.”

PK continued to shiver, but it was more of an instinct. What? He was well aware he looked pathetic, but nobody would ever say that to a mental hospital patient. Either this woman was just really rude, or…

“See, for the great…” she bit her lip, and smiled even wider. “The great king of Hallownest, I expected more grandeur.”

PK’s shivering continued for a moment, until he completely dropped the act. They had to look at each other for another minute before PK finally opened his mouth and spoke the first definite words he had in a very long time.

“Oh, gods.”

The corners of her mouth tilted upward still. She reached up to her face and pulled down her sunglasses. Her eyes were dark, with glowing pupils.

“Miss me?”

The Pale King brought up his hands and placed them on the table. They were genuinely shaking now. _Calm down. Calm down. Calm down. Don’t let her see your fear._

He curled his hands into fists and took a deep breath. “It took me a moment to recognize you.” his voice was dry, from the lack of saying anything definite for the last few years.

“And I you.” she walked over to the table and placed her hands on the edge, looking down into PK’s eyes. “What have you reduced yourself to, mighty Pale King?”

PK forced himself to look into the Radiance’s eyes. _Show no fear. She feeds off your fear. She uses it against you. Show no fear._ “I’ve not reduced myself to anything.”

“Really?”

“You might look at me and think I have, but you’re mistaken.” PK’s eyebrows twitch higher. “I’ve simply taken advantage of this city’s broken system to keep myself from doing any work.”

She huffed. “Of course. You’re letting your citizens work for you again.”

“They’re not my citizens anymore.” PK admits. “But I’ve allowed myself to benefit from this broken institution. After all, it wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for me.

“So you admit, you’ve lost your kingdom.”

“Hallownest lives on.” He says. “In ways that you don’t understand.”

“Where have you been, during the last few centuries?” Radi asks, ignoring PK’s comment.

“I could ask the same to you.”

“I’ve been biding my time.” she turns around, facing the door. “Waiting to regain my power. Being absorbed by your eternal enemy isn’t something you can walk off.”

PK raised his eyebrows. “...what?”

The Radiance looked back at him. “You don’t know? One of your vessels united the void against me. I was trapped for centuries. There were other ways you could have used the darkness to keep your kingdom from falling.”

“My child?” the Pale King breathed. “The Hollow Knight?”

“No.” Radi frowned. “It was another vessel. They entered the Hollow Knight’s mind and battled me. Perhaps you should have considered them for your Hollow Knight.”

PK said nothing. He wasn’t sure how to process this information.

“Your daughter helped them.” the Radiance continued. “Without her help I wouldn’t have been vanquished.”

“Hornet.” PK muttered. 

“Yes, her.” she replied. “Herrah raised her well, I must say. I can only imagine what her skill would be if you didn’t use her mother to contain me.”

The Pale King closed his eyes and took a deep breath. “I didn’t have a choice.”

“Believe that if you will.” Radi replied. “But perhaps you could have gone about it a different way. It doesn’t seem like the way you chose went too well for yourself personally either.”

PK cleared his throat. His head started to hurt. “Maybe not. Why would you care?”

“I’m just saying, there were other ways to go about this.” The Radiance walked around the table and stopped beside the Pale King. She placed her hand on the back of his chair, and leaned over, looking into his eyes. “My my, there’s something within you, isn’t there? Something eating at you. Do you think I’m right? Do you think that you could have gone about it better?”

The longer he stared into the Radiance’s eyes, the more he realized that she was probably right. He could have probably gone about defeating her in a different way. 

“Perhaps.”

They stared at each other for a while, the Radiance still looming over PK. The Pale King had never actually seen the Radiance before, this was the first time they ever spoke. Strange, considering they were mortal enemies. He had never expected her to be this manipulative, and somewhat beautiful. Still, her beauty was cloaked by a veil of anger and control. PK didn’t take his eyes off of her.

“...What has the void done to you?” Radi asked, dragging out her words. She seemed to have inferred what was inside of PK, what was eating at him.

“I’ve served my time,” he says. “I got what I damn well deserved, is probably what you think.”

The Radiance brought her hand to PK’s face, and held him still. “You angered the void, didn’t you? I knew it would come back to bite you eventually.”

PK swallowed. Her face was uncomfortably close to his. He brought his hands up and pushed her hand away from his face. Despite his attempt to keep his hands from shaking, the Radiance noticed it, and smiled. “The void took my soul from my body.” PK began. “I don’t know how long it was. I knew very well why it was angry. All I remember from that period is darkness and pain. “

“You should have thought about that before you tampered with them.” the Radiance said, standing up straight again. “You used them. The vessels were just as much as the void’s children as they were yours. In all fairness, I don’t blame them. You did deserve it. And I think you know that.”

PK did, in fact, know that he deserved the void’s wrath. But it was to keep their ancient enemy from manipulating his entire kingdom. PK didn’t think the void would be _that_ angry. 

“What did you come here to tell me?” The Pale King asked, his voice steady. 

“I’m here to tell you that I’m back.” she said simply.

“You know I can’t do anything with that information.”

“You would let your kingdom fall to me again?” The Radiance asked skeptically, walking around PK’s chair. 

PK lets himself laugh. “You know damn well this isn’t my kingdom. This is something built atop my civilization.”

“And you would let it fall to me, would you? I know you don’t want that.”

“Of course I don’t. But I can’t do anything to stop you. I’m powerless, and you know that. Is that why you came here, to gloat that you’ve finally won?” PK chuckles. “You can take away my kingdom, you can take away this city atop mine, but you know you haven’t really won until I submit to you. And you know I’ll never do that.”

“I don’t need your mind.” The Radiance faces away from the Pale King again. “I have the mind of your greatest creation.”

Something within the Pale King rises, a hot rush of anger. He stands up, his chair sliding backwards. “How! I was so careful. I sacrificed everything for them. They were perfect!”

“How do you think I managed to escape and infect your kingdom?”

“I--” he swallows hard. “I didn’t… I didn’t think you…”

“You know how I managed to do it?” the Radiance turned around again, her eyes glowing. “Your child had one, tiny, simple thought in their otherwise hollow mind. Do you know what it was?”

PK’s hands clasped and unclasped on the table. He was breathing heavily and deliberately.

“It was their desire to impress you.”

They shared a long look at each other. PK’s breathing became shaky. He collapsed back into the chair, covering his mouth with his hands. He was working hard to slow his breathing. 

“Fuck!” He shouted suddenly, bringing his hands down on the table. His being pulsed with white hot anger. “I… I was so careful…”

“Apparently you weren’t careful enough.” The Radiance smiled from ear to ear. “Personally, I find the irony of their single flaw rather amusing.”

The Pale King, his head on the table, tears of anger dripping onto his hands, tilted his head toward Radi, before flinging himself toward her and pulling her down toward him. It accomplished nothing, because Radi flung out her hand and caught herself on the table before PK managed to pull her down. PK felt himself slip, but he held onto the Radiance’s hoodie, the table screeching as Radi put her weight onto it.

“I thought you might do that.” Her voice was still entirely calm. It infuriated PK to the point of violence. He brought his fist toward her gut, but she used her free hand to catch it before he hit her. “I’m still surprised though. I also thought you might keep your composure.”

They shared another look, before PK tried to break free from the Radiance’s grip. It was too tight though, and the Radiance stood up abruptly, bringing PK forward. She grabbed his shirt and pried him off of her, holding him up to eye level. He gasped, his legs dangling underneath him.

“I’ll have you know that the Hollow Knight was better without you.” Radi said. PK stopped struggling, and looked into her eyes. The King’s eyes had fear in them again. “You wronged them. I tried to tell them that, but they’re still under the delusion that you care about them.”

PK’s anger was overwhelming, but within his four foot tall demeanor, it was hard to show it. “They mean everything to me. I care about them more than I care about anything else. You don’t know what you’re saying.”

“I know exactly what I’m saying.” the Radiance dropped PK abruptly, the small man falling to the floor onto his knees. “Face it. You’ve lost. You bow to me now.”

PK forced himself to slow his breathing. He forced himself to calm down. “I think you’ve long overstayed your visit, Radiance.”

“Hmm.” Radi muttered. “I thought that might make you give in. I guess I’ll have to do it personally then.”

The Radiance swings her leg at PK, and he falls onto his back. The Radiance placed her foot on his chest, bending down to look into his eyes. She could see the anger in his eyes. She had hoped to maybe see fear, or remorse, or anything else, but the only thing she could find was anger.

“This will only hurt more if you struggle.” The Radiance flexed the muscles in her hand, and began to lean down towards the Pale King. She poised her hand above his forehead.

“Stop!” this voice came from the someone else in the room. The Radiance looked over to her right to see the man who she had forgotten was in the room with them. What the hell did Franklin want? He should stay out of this if he knew what was good for him. “Just leave him.”

PK turned his head towards the man who had interrupted them. He wasn’t thankful for them intervening, in fact, he wanted to show the Radiance that she couldn’t corrupt them even if she tried. 

“Just leave him.” Frank repeated. He had noticed the way the Radiance was holding down PK, just like she threatened him. For some reason, he couldn’t bear to see her torment someone the same way, because he remembered what it felt like. He would have never done something like this a week ago. Where had this empathy come from? “Do you really need him?”

“Do it!” PK yelled suddenly. “Do it, Radiance. I know you want to. When has anything stopped you before?”

The Radiance’s eyes are narrowed. Franklin seemed adamant on her leaving the Pale King alone. What did he know? He didn’t know anything about how PK had treated the Hollow Knight. 

“I said DO IT!” PK forcibly brought her hand down onto his forehead. 

“You know what…” the Radiance said. “You’re right, Franklin. He’s not worth it.” She stepped off the Pale King and stood up. “You get to live another day. Enjoy it.”

PK didn’t stand up. He only sat there, shocked at what was happening. Why didn’t the Radiance do it? Why didn’t she try to infect him? It didn’t make sense. That was all she ever wanted, to take away the Pale King’s mind.

They had left by the time the Pale King got up off the floor. His breathing slowed. He suddenly felt his mind racing.

This time, his quarrel with the Radiance was personal. But they were both right, there was nothing he could do to stop her. If he actually wanted to take her down again, He’d need help.

But he’d worry about that another day.

…

“Why’d you do it?”

Franklin and the Radiance were back at the apartment. Franklin stood in front of the door while the Radiance sat on the couch, crossing her legs and staring at the blank TV screen. “Because it was petty.”

Franklin thought about this for a moment. “I don’t understand.”

He heard the Radiance take a deep breath. “Sit down.” she motioned towards a chair next to her. He walked over quickly and took a seat, still giving her his full attention.

“I didn’t take his mind for a few reasons.” she began. “First is that I wasn’t sure I could. The Pale King, despite not looking like it, is very powerful. He’s not physically strong, no, but his mind is one of the greatest in Hallownest. He’s probably the only person who could come up with such a plan to trap me for eternity. It might have even worked, if he had considered that his vessel could be corrupted.”

The Radiance grabbed the remote to the TV off of the table. “And corrupting him wouldn’t have changed anything. He had already done his damage to the Hollow Knight. Taking his mind would just have been a petty attempt at revenge. Sure, he would have deserved it, but it wasn’t going to make me feel any better.”

She turned on the TV. “and Finally… I wanted _him_ to give up. Taking his mind by force wasn’t what I wanted to do. I wanted him to willingly go with me. It wouldn’t have given me any satisfaction to see him fall by my hands.”

“Jesus.” Franklin muttered. “Why do you hate him so much?”

“A couple reasons.” the Radiance was looking at the TV, checking to see if there was anything interesting going on. “He turned my tribe against me a long time ago. He’s used the Hollow Knight, his child, as a tool to keep me locked away. He’s murdered millions of his own children as a sacrifice in an attempt to keep his kingdom running. In a way… I all felt a connection to them.”

“Why?”

“The void, despite being my ancient enemy, is a foil to me. Without them, the light would be blinding, and even I don’t want that. All of those children were in part the void’s. And because of that, I want to see the Pale King’s end just as much as they want to.”

Franklin looked over at the TV. “I still don’t know who the Hollow Knight is.”

The Radiance didn’t answer. She was busy watching the TV. It was going over the Murder of George Reynolds, a manager at the Haddison NightClub. The suspect was a janitor found unconscious next to the dead body. His face was shown a moment after.

“Well well well…” Radi murmured. “You’re about to find out.”


	9. The Vents

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet comes up with a plan.

Hornet and Ghost were back in their apartment, going over certain things. It was the day after the two of them had visited the Hollow Knight, and they had kept themselves busy. Hornet had cleared out the apartment and placed all of the unnecessary items out of the way. She put the TV in her room and redid the entire open-concept living room into a sort of training area for her sibling. It was a decent sized area, but it was no replacement for the parking garage downstairs. The two of them had gone over every single one of Ghost’s charms, picking out the ones that they preferred. They had tried them out in the parking garage, just in case they’d cause an explosion or something. A few of them came pretty close to causing an explosion, but most of them just changed a certain aspect of them. Hornet’s favorite charms included one she thought was pretty OP, Unbreakable strength, and quick slash. They made a deadly combination when it came to close combat attacks. She also liked the Shaman Stone, a charm that increased the power of their spells. They could use all of the charms relatively well, even some of the more useless charms. (at least in Hornet’s opinion) The only one that didn’t make any sense was unbreakable greed, for obvious reasons.

The two of them had been sitting in the reconstructed living room for a while, as Hornet sketched out what she remembered of the police station. It wasn’t very helpful, though, as the station was huge and Hornet could barely remember the layout of the hallways she darted through. Ghost was running around the living room, jumping over tables and dodging invisible objects. They were surprisingly quiet while doing so, which Hornet liked, since she could focus on her sketches. 

“I wonder…” she said aloud, her pencil poised over the paper. “Do you think there might be a layout of the prison system I could find?”

Ghost landed gracefully on the floor after an impressive flip, and stared at her emotionlessly. Hornet sighed. Sometimes she wished her sibling could talk to her.

“It would be a really suspicious thing to ask for.” she muttered. Ghost climbed up onto the table Hornet was drawing on, and looked at some of her sketches. “But it would be really helpful if I could get my hands on something like that…”

Ghost continued to look at the sketches. They were curious about them, and they looked really familiar, despite the fact that they’d never seen them before. 

Something resurfaced in Ghost’s memory. They got off the table and walked toward their bedroom, opening the door and looking in the closet. They took their old map of Hallownest off the shelf and returned to Hornet, spreading it out on the table.

She looked confused. “Ghost, I know you have this, but we’re trying to figure out what the police station looks like. This is what Hallownest looked like. We can’t use this.”

The two of them stared at the map for a moment. Hornet picked up her pencil and tapped the map of Hallownest. She looked in deep thought.

“Wait…” she muttered, her eyes narrowing. “Ghost… you don’t think you could map the police station, could you?”

If there was one thing Ghost was good at, it was mapping. It didn’t require much thought, and they were excellent at measuring exact distances. It was why their map of hallownest was so accurate, and everything was perfectly to scale. Perhaps they _could_ try to map the police station.

“But I don’t think I can go back there…” Hornet muttered. “And I doubt you could just waltz in there either. There’s no easy way to map that place out.”

Ghost would have loved to give their input, but the fact that they couldn’t think was a slight barrier.

Hornet continued to tap the table with the pencil. She started to think about what she had seen in the station. Was there any place they could possibly go that they could map it out? She sat there, deep in thought, for a while.

“Maybe…” she thought suddenly. “If there was a way to get into the vents…”

Ghost tilted their head slightly.

“That also depends on how big they are. We’d be able to get in them. And we’d have to be really quiet.” She closed her eyes and envisioned the station. She remembered running through a relatively large room, and on the ceiling, there were vents running across the room. She remembered them being decently large, but it wouldn’t be easy for her to crawl through them without drawing attention to herself. Not to mention the fact that they’d have to get into the vents somehow, and she hadn’t even thought about that.

She opened her eyes. “It’s plausible, but it would take awhile…” she mutters. “It would be hard for me to stay completely silent in those vents.”

They met each other’s eyes. Ghost shook their head.

“...what do you mean?”

Ghost pointed at themself, and then at Hornet, and shook their head again.

Hornet processed what they were trying to say at that moment. “You… want to go alone?”

Ghost nodded.

Hornet was about to protest, but then she thought about it. Ghost was small, they could probably travel through those vents easier than her. She’d probably just be a burden to them. 

She nodded slowly. “Okay then. It’s settled. I’ll take you down to the station and you can get started on that.” Hornet stood up and grabbed a large sheet of thin paper. Ghost nodded and the two of them left the apartment.

…

Hornet had stopped her motorcycle on the curb. She made sure to stay a good distance away from the station so nobody would see them get off. Ghost had taken the paper from her, and the two of them ran towards the station. Hornet would leave as soon as she could, but first she needed a way to get Ghost into the vents. She hurried up to the side of the building with her sibling, and they kept themselves walking inconspicuously down it. Hornet peered into a few of the windows, hoping to find one that could lead inside. Most of them were either locked or occupied, and she was just thinking about breaking one to get inside when one of them opened for her.

“Thank god.” she looked around to make sure nobody was looking, and opened the window completely. The two of them stepped inside quietly, closing the window behind them. The office was pretty average-- a cluttered desk stood in the corner of the room, and a few other pieces of furniture littered the floor. There were no ceiling vents visible though.

Hornet motioned for Ghost to stay, and she carefully opened the door to the hallway. Immediately, she spotted a place where her sibling could crawl into the ventilation system, but the hallway was exposed, and somebody could round the corner at any time.

They’d have to run for it.

Hornet closed the door and turned to her sibling. “There’s a vent you can get into not too far down the hall. Get into it as quickly as possible. Try to be quiet, but if you can’t, that’s okay. Speed is the most important.” she listened for a moment for footsteps outside. “Once you’re done, I need you to exit the same way we came in. Make sure everything is clear before you leave. I’ll be in the restaurant right outside where I put my bike. Don’t be seen. Is that clear?”

They nodded.

“Good. You’re going to unscrew the vent from the wall and climb in. I’ll go in and screw it back on, but I’ll make sure it’s loose enough so that you can kick it open from the other side. And then I’m getting the hell out of there…” Hornet took a deep breath and opened the door again. She still didn’t see anyone in the hallway. “Okay.” she motioned Ghost closer to her. She listened intently, and she heard only the air conditioner.

“Go.” she hissed suddenly. Ghost bolted down the hallway, their feet falling silently. Hornet watched them anxiously as they reached the vent. They bent their knees and jumped, partially running up the wall. They barely reached the vent, but grabbed it. It made a loud rattling sound, which Hornet flinched at. She was praying at this point.

Ghost used a paper clip that Hornet had given them to unscrew the vent from the wall. When they got the screw, it fell to the floor and the vent swung loose on its other screw. Ghost grappled with the inside of the vent, and eventually pulled themself inside. At this, Hornet sprinted to the vent, her breathing irregular. Ghost fit pretty well inside the vent-- they could comfortably turn around, but that’s not what Hornet was worried about. She picked up the screw from the floor and screwed it back haphazardly into the vent. She didn’t wait another second. She nodded frantically to them and ran back towards the door. Her heart stopped as she heard footsteps coming from somewhere, but she didn’t stop running. She closed the door quickly, but it wasn’t necessarily very quiet. Her eyes wide, she rushed towards the window and pried it open quickly. She had only barely climbed out and closed the window when she saw a shadow reflected in it. She got down on her knees and pressed herself up against the building so that whoever it was couldn’t see her. She heard the faintest footsteps from inside, and she felt someone staring out the window. For a moment, she didn’t breathe.

It was a minute before the person at the window muttered a “Hmm.” and she heard the footsteps of them leaving the window. She let out an internal sigh of relief, and slipped down the wall.

Thank the gods.

…

Ghost, being as light as they were, was relatively good at being quiet in the vents. They had marked off a large section of the ventilation, and had marked wherever there was an exit. They also made a note of what was at each exit. Most of the exits just led into hallways, but sometimes they led to offices, occasionally they led to larger rooms, and a bunch of them in a close vicinity led to a large room filled with people who Ghost assumed were inmates, or just people who had been arrested that day.

They spent a while in those vents. They were extremely careful, making sure not to make any noise, especially when people could hear. They stayed low, entirely calm, as they made it to another entrance. They looked down into this one, and they saw someone familiar. In fact, it was the same person Hornet and them had seen the other day. They looked like they were all alone in the room, waiting patiently for something.

Ghost had a sudden urge to indicate that they hadn’t forgotten about them. It disobeyed everything Hornet had told them to do while they were in here, which was why it was so strange. They hesitated for a moment, but then gave in and lightly hit the vent. The person looked up at them, and Ghost could see their eyes. Something had happened to one of them. It seemed to be glowing a bright orange color. They shared a long look, and suddenly, something came back to Ghost.

They were in a huge, domed room. It was all stone, with intricate carvings upon the floor. The same person stood in front of them, cloaked in darkness. Chains hung from the ceiling and from their shoulders. This time, both of their eyes were bright orange. The same substance in his eyes was speckled all around the room, pulsing violently. In this memory, the other person had huge, curved horns bigger than their head. They were hunched over, holding a huge sword, not unlike the one that Ghost wielded. 

They shared this blank stare for a while, until they let out a deafening roar, something that rippled through Ghost’s ears unlike anything they had ever heard before. It pulled them out of the memory, and they were staring back at them through the vent. 

They had to finish this.

Ghost left the room and finished mapping out the vents. It didn’t take them long to return to their starting position, where they listened intently for any voices outside the door. They didn’t hear anything, so they turned, facing away from the vent, and kicked it loose. It was loud, but it didn’t matter since they were going to exit soon anyway.

They jumped down from the vent and ran towards the door that they had come from. They stopped as they heard someone speaking from inside. Hornet hadn’t thought about anyone being in the room when Ghost was returning. 

They’d have to think.

They couldn’t just wait here. Somebody would turn the corner and see them. They stood in front of the door for a long moment, wondering what exactly they should do.

An idea, or perhaps, an instinct came to them in an instant. They knocked on the door, and pressed themselves against the wall behind where the door would open. They heard the person inside stop speaking, excuse themself, and open the door. Ghost was still silent as they looked around.

Then they spotted the fallen vent.

“What the…” the person left the room and Ghost heard their footsteps get quieter as they walked away from them and toward the fallen vent. In a moment of quick instinct, Ghost shuffled quietly around the door and into the room, where they placed their hand on the window. They heard the man outside moving the vent around as they opened the window. They slowly, quietly, pushed the window open and placed one leg through the window. Carefully they climbed out, planting themself firmly outside the window. They grabbed the frame, and pulled the window down, not bothering to close it quietly. Instead of sitting there like Hornet had, and waiting, Ghost bolted. They scanned the area for anyone around, but it seemed pretty barren.

They slowed down as they reached the end of the property.

They had done it.

…

The door of the apartment opened, and Hornet stumbled into the room. She sighed with relief, and took an instant turn towards the reconstructed living room. She opened up the paper that Ghost had handed to her, and began to look through the sketches. Her sibling simply sat next to her on the couch, looking at the blueprints.

“This is perfect.” she smiles. “Absolutely perfect.”

Ghost looked up at Hornet.

“We can definitely use this.” She folded the paper up and placed it up on the kitchen counter. “How’d you deal with getting out of the station?”

Ghost locks eyes with her. They shrug.

“Okay.” Hornet nodded to herself. Ghost wouldn’t want to worry their sister with what happened there.

The sun had started to set. Hornet made some noodles for herself in the kitchen while Ghost kept staring at their map. 

“We’ll get to that soon.” Hornet told them. “Tomorrow we’ll look at it. I think I already have a good idea of where to get in.”

Ghost took one last look at the map, before walking to the kitchen and sitting at the table. Hornet placed a plate on the table and began to eat. It was a silent moment, just the two of them sitting together in the kitchen. Neither of them said anything. Hornet ate rather slowly, savoring the noodles, despite them being of dollar store quality.

Ghost just stared into her eyes. They found themselves lost in them, almost so much so that they didn’t realize they weren’t in the kitchen anymore.

Wind. it’s really windy. Hornet stands on the other side of a rather large clearing, wielding her needle with a deadly stare in her eyes. She feels cold and distant. The wind ripples in her hair, her crimson cloak flowing all around her. She has two large horns protruding from the back of her head, making her head look sleek and streamlined. 

“Prove yourself ready to face it.” She spoke, her voice clear despite the wind. “I’ll not hold back. My needle is lethal and I’d feel no sadness in a weakling’s demise.”

Ghost prepares themself. Hornet’s eyes narrow in concentration.

“Show me you can accept this Kingdom’s past and claim responsibility for its future!” she clutches her needle, and without warning, she rushes forward. There’s a sharp reflection of light off of her needle and it blinds them for a second.

Ghost is suddenly back in the kitchen. Hornet is staring at them.

“Did you…”

They nod.

“What did you remember?”

Ghost simply points at Hornet.

“You… remember me?”

Another nod.

They stare at each other. “Is that it?”

Ghost nods, not bringing up what they saw while in the vents. That memory was created when they disobeyed Hornet’s orders.

They didn’t think she’d approve of that.


	10. The Rejection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance pays the Hollow Knight a visit.

It’s storming. Rain is pattering down upon the city, water pooling on the side of the street. It’s completely dark, and the streets are barren. Normally, even at this time of night, there would be cars on the road. Maybe there wouldn’t be many, but there’d be some, at least. Tonight there was nothing. 

One of the streetlamps flickered out. It was closely followed by another, and another, until the whole street was completely darkened. One probably couldn’t see more than one foot away from them, until there was a blinding light that emerged from an alleyway. It was unnaturally bright, not something that could be created by a human. It was gone as quickly as it appeared.

The rain was really loud, but you could hear heavy breathing from the alleyway. Then there came footsteps. Someone was trying to stand up from inside the alley. 

She was kneeling on the ground, but it didn’t make her any less impressive. She had wings that stretched the length of the alley, and she wore beautiful plated armor. A crown with three spokes stretched from her forehead, and her hair was flowing. The rain was falling from above her, but it didn’t seem to hit her. She was completely dry. 

She steadied her breathing before getting to her feet. Her clothing was almost as impressive as her wings, but it certainly didn’t look like it belonged in this timeline. She stood tall, a giant woman. She brushed off her hands and looked around the alley.

“Gods.” she spoke, her voice steady and threatening. She walked out of the alleyway and looked down the street. “What in Hallownest happened here?”

Her wings folded up onto herself and miraculously disappeared. Her crown faded, and she was left with a dull glow from her eyes. 

“Well…” she muttered, taking a deep breath. She wrinkled her nose and she scowled. “What the hell is that…”

She began to walk down the street. She passed a store, and her eyes fell on the model in the display. She looked them up and down, before she took another breath. There was another bright flash, and suddenly she was wearing the mannequin’s outfit. Perhaps it was an attempt to make herself look less conspicuous, but it only half worked. She still appeared completely dry, and she was still unnaturally tall. She seemed to realize this, however, and she looked up into the sky. It only took a moment for the rain to completely cease. It had been pattering violently for the last few hours, and this was completely random. 

The streetlamps flickered back on as the woman walked down the street, her eyes flitting from one side to the other. She had finally settled beside a bus stop, where she stared straight ahead, and her eyes glazed over. She didn’t know how long it was before she was snapped forcefully out of her trance by someone… _touching_ her. Her strength resurfaced. The Radiance returned, in that exact moment.

“Get... your hands... off of me.”

…

The Radiance had let Franklin off for a moment. She thought he’d be more interested to see the Hollow Knight, but he seemed tired. For once, the Radiance considered letting him take a break, and she did, to her own surprise. They had already found two of the four people she was looking for, so she figured he deserved a break.

She said as long as he dropped her off at the prison to speak with the Hollow Knight he’d be good for the day. And so he did, and she was content with him for the time being.

She watched as he sped away in his car, and waited until she could no longer see him to turn towards the station. She brushed off her sleeves as she walked towards the front door, and rolled her shoulders forward. She didn’t like being in that cramped car.

She took a breath as she reached the door, and twisted the handle open. There was a woman at the front desk. She looked rather exasperated.

Radi cleared her throat as she reached the desk. The woman there looked up, jerking out of her trance.

“Oh, hello ma’am. What can I do for you?” she straightened up in an attempt to look more professional.

“So…” Radi started, leaning against the counter. “Two days ago a janitor was found unconscious at the scene of a murder. I would like to talk to them.”

The secretary took a deep breath, her eyes widening with annoyance. “We aren’t allowing anyone to see them right now, unless you’re family.”

“Oh, of course.” The Radiance sighed, standing up straight again. “Still, I would very much like to speak to them.”

The woman opened her mouth, and then closed it again. “I-- we’re not allowing anyone to speak to them, and we can’t make an exception for you.”

“Mmm…” the Radiance hummed. “I think you can.”

They stared at each other for a moment. The secretary stood up abruptly, and turned towards the phone on the wall. She muttered to herself, so very quietly that Radi could barely pick it up: “The hell is with these crazies wanting to see this man?”

“I’m sorry?” The Radiance raised her eyebrows. The woman looked back at her, afraid Radi heard her call her a crazy person.

“Nothing.” she muttered, dialing a number on the phone.

“No, seriously.” Radi asked. “Who else wanted to see the janitor?”

“Nobody.” the woman answered tartly, entering the last number. She held the phone to her ear and cast a wary eye over at Radi. “I have someone here who wants to see Mister Davidson. No, I don’t know her name. Yes, I told her that. Sorry to--”

“I have information.” Radi chimes in. “About the case. They might like to hear it.”

The secretary pauses, and leans back into the phone. “She says she has information about the case. No, I don’t know.” there’s a long pause. “Okay. Thank you. I’ll do that.”

She hangs up, and turns toward the Radiance. “They’ll come and get you in a moment.”

Radi nods, and sits on a chair near the door. She keeps her eyes on the secretary, who sits back down at the desk and begins scribbling on a notepad. 

“Who exactly came to visit Mister Davidson earlier?”

She looks up from the pad. “...why do you want to know?”

“I might know them.” Radi replies.

She looks down at the counter again, sighing. “Some girl. Said she was his fiancee. Came with a little boy.”

Radi frowned. “What did she look like.”

The secretary huffed. “Strange. She had this really bright white hair. So did the boy. Pretty pale, both of them.”

The Radiance’s eyes narrowed. “Hornet.” she whispered. Although she didn’t know who the boy would be. Perhaps just another vessel. No chance it was just a random kid she picked up-- the Radiance knew Hornet well enough-- she didn’t seem the type to like children.

A man rounded the corner and met the Radiance’s eyes. “Hey, I’m officer Bill Wilde. I’m leading the case-- you should come with me.”

The Radiance stood up, a foot taller than him. It was clear he wasn’t expecting this-- he stepped backwards, his eyes widening in surprise. He kept his composure though, and cleared his throat as he led the Radiance down the hallway. Radi could run her finger along the ceiling as she followed him.

The two of them walked into an empty room, and they sat down across from each other.

“Where is mister Davidson?” the Radiance smiles. Her eyes flit over to the mirror that covers the wall to their left. She can feel someone watching her behind it. It’s clearly a two way mirror. 

“I was hoping you would give me the facts you have about the case first.” Officer Wilde begins. “First, I want you to tell me your name-- and remove your sunglasses for me please.”

The Radiance brings her hand to her face, only to adjust her sunglasses and put her hands back on the table. “I’d like to see him first.”

“I’m sorry ma’am, I can’t allow--”

“I know you want this information.” Radi interrupts. “You’re not in a position to bargain. You’re confused. You’re desperate. You wouldn’t have let me speak to you otherwise.”

Wilde narrows his eyes. “I can’t let you do that. I need your name and I need to see your face first.”

“My position is unwavering.” The Radiance says, her voice low and steady. “Bring him in or you don’t get the information.”

They stare at each other for a moment. The officer knows she’s right-- he’s desperate for any information he can get his hands on. Nothing in this case made even an inkling of sense. So he concedes, and leaves the room to get the Janitor.

The Radiance smiled to herself as she waited. It would be interesting to get to speak to the Hollow Knight again, face to face. They wouldn’t be alone, of course-- the people behind the mirror would listen in, and most likely, Wilde would be watching from the corner. He probably would want to make sure Hollow didn’t lash out at Radi, and lose his chance at any helpful information.

The door opens, and the Hollow Knight, slumped over and tired, walks in. They’re staring at the floor, but when they take their first breath of the room, their head violently snaps up toward the Radiance. They catch each other’s eyes-- one of the Hollow Knight’s is dripping with infection. Oh, that must have really confused Wilde.

Hollow sits across from the Radiance, and the officer, as predicted, stands in the corner. There’s a shared silence between the two of them, before the Radiance speaks.

“It’s definitely been a while, hasn’t it?”she speaks. “I know you’ve never seen me like this before, but it’s still me.”

Hollow doesn’t respond. Their blank stare conveys more emotion than Wilde probably picked up on. Their one hand is sitting on the table, itching for something to do.

“I haven’t come here to gloat. I’ve come to make sure you’re alright.” she smiles.

Once again, their stare conveys a plethora of emotion.

“I’ve spoken to your father.” Radi continues. Hollow’s fingers jerk slightly, their eyes growing only slightly fearful. “I know you want to believe it, but he doesn’t care about you. He says he sees you as a failure. You failed him.”

Hollow’s fingers slide along the metal table, making a shrill screeching sound.

“Hollow.” Radi said. “He doesn’t care about you. If he did, he’d be here, wouldn’t he?”

Hollow was looking at the floor now. 

“But I’m here.” Radi said. “I’m looking out for you. I care about you.”

Hollow looked up at the Radiance. “You… killed.”

Radi sighed. She knew what they were talking about, but she didn’t want the officer to pick up on it. “No, you did.” she said it loud enough for Wilde to hear it, but then she dropped her voice slightly. “I don’t understand how you didn’t see it. He was cruel to you. I did you a favor.”

“I… never.” They stammered. “...you would.”

Radi shoots a quick glance over at Wilde, who looks shocked. Her eyes lock with Hollow’s again. “I’m just asking you, Hollow. I just want you to realize that I’m here. I’ve been with you for centuries. I never left you like the Pale King did. Don’t you understand I care about you?”

Hollow stares into her eyes for a moment. A look appears in their eyes, and it makes Radi flinch. It’s unsettlingly similar to how the Pale King had eyed her in the hospital.

“You only care about Revenge.” This time, when they speak, their voice is strong, unwavering, low and deadly. It’s a mix of the Pale King’s voice, and plenty of others within. She can’t quite place them.

They stare at each other for a moment. Radi frowns.

“I don’t know what I expected.” Radi muttered, disappointed. She stood up. “Take him away. I’m done speaking to him.”

Wilde, still standing in the corner, his eyes wide, nods. He takes Hollow arm in arm and leads him out of the room. A second later, he returns, his eyes still wide. He’s carrying a large paper pad and a pen. He looks anxious to start.

“Name, age, and date of birth please. And take off those sunglasses.” he says immediately.

“That information isn’t essential if you want the truth.” She replies. “But I'll oblige on the last request.” She removes her sunglasses, and places them inside her pocket. They meet each other’s eyes again, this time without the sunglasses blocking Radi’s gaze. She blinks her inhuman eyes at him, keeping them locked onto his in an unsettling gaze.

“What information do you have?” He asks, trying and failing to ignore her eyes.

“It’s not about what information I have. It’s about what information you want.”

He seems confused for a moment. “Tell me everything you know.”

“I can’t just do that.”

“Actually, you can,” he says. “And you’re required to.”

“Oh, legal loopholes.” Radi chuckles. “Am I really required to?”

They share another long look. Wilde shakes his head to himself, and peers back down at the notepad. “There was a bright, orange colored substance found at the scene. What do you know about that?”

“It’s a physical manifestation of my influence.” The Radiance begins. “I didn’t intend for it to exist, but yet my subjects seem to emanate it. It’s why your janitor has one of his eyes filled with it.”

He doesn’t write anything down. He looks rather skeptical. “Explain that again?”

Radi rolls her eyes. “It is a physical manifestation of my influence.” she repeats. “People who are under my control produce the substance constantly, unless they can control it. It isn’t alive, and it isn’t something you can study under a microscope.” 

He looks disappointed. “Do you _really_ know _anything_ about this case?”

Radi smiles. He doesn’t believe her, and she doesn’t really blame him. It’s human nature to disregard information that doesn’t make sense with what they already believe. “Everything I’ve told you is the truth, and you’ll know that in due time. Still, I can’t make you believe anything, can I?”

“I’ve heard enough.” he stands up. “This was a waste of time.”

“Was it?” Radi stood up right after him. “Well, I’m so sorry for that.” She’s already at the door before he has time to tell her to leave. “Really, I am. I gave you the information you needed on a silver platter, and I was met with ignorance.”

The two of them stare at each other again. Radi reaches into her pocket and puts on her sunglasses. “I’ve got nothing more to say to you.”

And she leaves the room.

…

Frank was in desperate need of a break. He couldn’t remember the last time he had worked for so long. Not to mention the fear, the stress, every time she looked into his eyes. It was unbearable. 

He parked the car in the parking garage underneath his apartment. He took a walk to the closest bar-- in fact, the bar where he met the Radiance. That was a moment he’d never forget.

He opened the door, and felt a familiar rush of cold air against his face. He liked this bar, even though they changed their menu every week or so. He wasn't against trying new drinks, and there was always something new here to try. It kept him on his toes.

He sat at the bar and ordered a tequila from the bartender. He looked bored and tired. Something in him seemed off.

When he came back with the drink, Franklin watched him turn around and clean one of the taps. “You having a bad day?” he asks.

The bartender sighed. “Few days ago, our coworker left for… something. I dunno-- and she hasn’t come back.”

“Hmm.” Frank took a sip of his drink, and looked around the bar. There was another girl serving drinks, but he was right-- it wasn’t the usual one.

“It’s weird cus’ she was like, super punctual, and super… good. I barely had to do anything. Now me and my girlfriend have to do everything.”

“Have any idea what she’s doing?” Frank asked. Normally, he wouldn’t care about what was going on here, but he was desperate for anything normal that was going on.

“Nope.” He replied. “Completely disappeared. Maybe she got a boyfriend. I’d be fine with that. She seemed a little lonely.”

Frank took another sip of his drink. His mind started to wander, memories resurfacing in his mind. They mostly just consisted of him in this bar, drinking somberly. Those were better days.

The old barista came up to him and gave him another drink. She was really pretty, and she wore this bored look upon her face. She looked really unhappy. “Girl, I’d be able to make you happy.”

Had he said that? Wow, that was rude. She turned around, her face falling into one of great disgust. This wasn’t a good memory. He didn’t like this. They stared at each other for a moment. The barista looked like she wanted to say something to him, but she decided against it. 

Frank kept his eyes on her. She was still pretty, but that disgust on her face haunted him. It was too similar to the look the Radiance had given him on that fateful day.

She flicked her hair. That was probably her prettiest feature. It was snow white, but it was full and thick, not like an older woman.

Wait, snow white?

He snapped out of his memory. Snow white hair, short stature, didn’t take shit from anyone. Was that Hornet? Was that the girl the Radiance was looking for?

He was overcome by a bout of new emotions. He came here to get away from the Radiance, but it’s like she was following him. He couldn’t get away from her. 

“Hey.” he turned toward the other woman. She looked over at him. “Do you have any idea where your coworker went?”

“...No.” She frowned, and went back to pouring a drink. Did they not know how important this was to him? This could potentially mean life or death. If he came back to the Radiance and told her he had a lead on Hornet but didn’t know anything else-- what would she do? Would she be mad? 

He downed the rest of his drink. It was a lot, but he needed it. He needed something for courage. He couldn’t keep his voice steady when speaking to her without something in his system. 

…

The Radiance was in her apartment when she heard a knock on the door. She waited for Franklin to open it, and turned around when she heard the creak of the hinges.

“What is it?”

“I have a lead on Hornet.” Frank started. He seemed a little bit less worried than he usually was. He was either warming up to the Radiance, or he was a bit tipsy. The Radiance didn’t care-- finding Hornet was more important.

“Where is she?” Radi stepped forward.

“I… don’t know.” He muttered. “But… I know she works at that bar. The one… where we first met.”

The Radiance stands in silence for a moment. She takes this in.

“Gods dammit!” she hisses abruptly. She taps her foot on the floor in anger. “When's the last time you saw her?”

“I think…” he takes a deep breath. “I think it was the day we met.”

Radi stamps her foot violently. “Shit. Can’t believe I didn’t see her.”

“It’s fine--”

“It is not fine.” she hisses back at him. “Hornet is the most important person for me to find. She’s the most dangerous. She’s the most competent. She’s the only person who could possibly stop me again--” She cuts herself off, her face contorted in rage. She suddenly walks over to Franklin and grabs his shirt collar, pulling him closer to her. “If you tell that to anyone I’ll make sure to see your last breath.”

Frank didn’t have anyone to tell that to anyway. He shook his head. The Radiance let go of him, and stepped a few paces backward.

“What will you do if you find her?” He asked out of curiosity. “Do that thing?”

The Radiance has to look back at him to figure out what “thing” he’s talking about. “No. Hornet was born with her mother’s will and her father’s mind. It’s no doubt she could resist my influence. Not to mention that there’s probably no way I could get her to stand still for three seconds. Her fighting style is agile and deadly. If I was going to get her out of my way, I’d have to kill her.”

The two of them sit in silence for a moment.

“Go home.” Radi says. “We still have yet to find the Nightmare King. I’ll search for Hornet. Do you understand me?”

“Yes.” Franklin mutters. He leaves the room before the Radiance can say anything else.

She still didn’t know that today, she had been within feet of the vessel who had contained her for centuries, separated by only a thin layer of metal that made up a ceiling vent.


	11. The Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet sees something on the TV as she ponders a distraction.

Hornet was impatient and angry. She had come up with a plan last night, thanks to the maps that Ghost had drawn, to sneak the Hollow Knight out of prison. She didn’t, however, have a place to go after they broke them out. Would they go back to the apartment and just sit there? That didn’t feel safe. Someone could easily find them. This truly stumped her. 

And that wasn’t the only problem. Ghost still didn’t have their memories back, and Hornet had no idea how they could fuse with the kingsoul again. They had to, otherwise she didn’t know how they would banish the Radiance again. They had gone down into the parking garage to duel for a bit-- and Hornet was impressed with Ghost’s improvement. They had definitely improved within the last two days, and Hornet figured they were holding back, just to keep themselves from hurting her. She said she didn’t want them to hold back, but they were getting really good. It started to make Hornet think that she needed practice-- which he probably did, but her priorities lied with Ghost.

She had planned to set off a distraction at the far end of the station, away from the cells. She figured it would be something important, but not too important that they thought something was going on. It needed to be subtle, believable, and it needed to draw people towards it. Then she thought, the next day, about another idea-- this time to put something on the prisoner’s side that drew people away from it. Of course, that might cause people to move the prisoners out of their cells, and Hornet didn’t want that. 

While she worked on the plan, Ghost sat next to her, doing some activities to improve their instinct. She started easy-- they had found a Bop It toy in Hornet’s closet-- she had never bought it, it had just been in there ever since she moved in. Ghost was relatively slow with it at first, but soon they were able to push it, pull it, and bop it simply from hearing the first letter of each command. It was impressive, but Hornet wanted to test it further. When she first took a break from planning, she led them through a practice where she would test their ability to predict her movement. It took them a moment, but soon patterns began to emerge in their mind, and they could easily react to her movement. She got faster and faster, but they kept up. It was a while before they stopped, and Hornet told them to go back to trying to remember things from their past. She mostly just wanted them to remember how they fused with the Kingsoul so they could do it again. 

Her biggest worry was that her distraction wouldn’t work. She didn’t quite know what she was going to do for it, but she knew that it had to bring the majority of people away from the Hollow Knight, without also moving the Hollow Knight in the process.

She only had one idea at the moment. One of the labs was on the bottom floor-- if she managed to set it on fire, or make some noxious gas in there, it would definitely get people riled up. She predicted that in that situation, though, everyone would evacuate, and professionals would be called in to take care of the problem. The problem with that plan was that the prisoners might be evacuated too, and they’d probably be under heavy security. If they weren’t evacuated, it would be a little better, but with everyone outside, there wouldn’t be an easy way to sneak Hollow out of the station with everyone watching.

She groaned and sat back on the chair. The TV was on in front of her. She had moved it to the living room so she could listen to it while she worked out a plan. She kept it at a reasonable volume, just high enough to pick up if something important was being discussed, and just low enough so that she could focus on the task at hand. So far, nothing interesting had happened, and nothing was released about the Hollow Knight’s case. This was slightly disappointing, but Hornet wasn’t deterred. Hollow would be able to catch her up on what had happened once they broke them out of prison.

Hornet was just searching up chemicals she could use inside the lab to make a distraction, when her phone rang. Very few people had her number-- She didn’t like getting calls. She was almost sure that this was her boss, asking her where she had gone for the last few days. She got up off the couch and walked over toward the phone, picking it up.

“Hello?”

“Is this Herrah Deepnest?” a voice asked on the other line. She recognized it.

“Yes.”

“You haven’t been at work these last few days.” he responded. “And there’s been no notice, you haven’t acknowledged it, and people are wondering where you are.”

“What?” she asked. Why were people wondering where she was? She wasn’t that popular at that bar. Maybe she had worked there for a long time, but it’s not like people talked to her at all. “Sorry, but I’m going to have to take a leave for a bit.”

“...but you just did.”

“Let me use all of my vacation for the foreseeable future.” She says. “And I regret to inform you that the future that I can see looks quite bleak.”

“What do you mean?”

Hornet sighs. She shouldn’t have said anything. “Listen, you’ve let me have this job for a long, long time, and I appreciate that. But I don’t think… I can’t focus on it. It seems asinine, but we’re all in grave danger. You can think I’m crazy, but I just want you to know that something is about to go down, and I’ll be in the middle of it. If I manage to get out of this alive, maybe I’ll come back and work for you again. But right now… I have to focus on this.”

There’s a long silence on the other line. “Are you quitting?”

“Indefinitely, yes.” she replies. “I have other things to focus on.”

“...I thought I’d be able to count on you.”

“And you better.” Hornet mutters. “You better count on me with your life. Because within a week, I assure you your bar will be the least of your worries.”

She hears an exasperated sigh on the other line. “Call me back when you think you can start working again.”

“Of course.” she sighs. She starts to put the phone back, but quickly adds, “if anyone asks you where I am, or asks you for my number, please don’t give it to them. I don’t want anyone to find me.”

It’s quiet for a moment, and she’s worried he’s already hung up. “Sure. Whatever.” he finally says.

“Thank you.” Hornet says, and hangs up the phone. She stares at it for a moment, before picking it up again. She didn’t know if it was possible for someone to track her location with her phone, but she didn’t want to risk it. She took the phone in her fist and pulled it off the wall violently. She brought it down on the counter, snapping it in half. Some of the wires snapped on the impact, and she was pretty sure it was unusable at this point. Hopefully that would take care of that problem.

She turned back to the couch and picked up her laptop again. She was quite surprised that she was looking up chemistry-- she never thought it would come in handy during her life. She started with searching up deadly gasses, and the first to catch her eye was carbon monoxide. She had heard of carbon monoxide poisoning before, and she knew it was a pretty big deal. It was likely to cause people to move away from whatever was causing it, which was good for what she needed. She was almost a hundred percent sure that carbon monoxide wouldn’t affect the Hollow Knight, so if she managed to set it off she wouldn’t need to worry about them getting poisoned. Hornet, however, would be. She’d need something to cover her face-- something a bit sturdier than a cloth bandana. But she’d get to that later.

She was writing down her ideas when something on the TV caught her eye. Police had noticed a man from the mental hospital had escaped, and he got pretty far from what it seemed like. Nobody was hurt, and he didn’t cause any damage, but it was caught on video. Hornet began to listen in.

“The patient in question suffers from delusions and hallucinations. Nurses from the hospital are extremely surprised he managed to do this-- they said that he’s usually rather docile, and never really disobeyed the nurses. A few people were fortunate enough to see him running around completely nude at the residences near the hospital. One of the bystanders was able to record part of it.”

Shaky and badly recorded, like all videos on the news are, this one came up and was shown on the screen. A man in the background was laughing, while the patient was running up and down the street, yelling “we’re all going to die!” while completely naked. Hornet started to chuckle. The story was rather bizarre, and it made her forget for a moment what she was doing, until the recording suddenly became clearer. She still couldn’t make out a face on the man, but she very clearly noticed his long, white hair and pale skin. Was it a vessel? No… it was very clearly a man (not that the reporters didn’t blur out that part), and vessels didn’t actually have genders. It could obviously just be a random old man, but that didn’t seem right. The way he was running made it unlikely that he was elderly. 

The recording ended, and the reporter continued. “He’s been taken back into the hospital’s custody, and the staff there has informed us that he will be contained until they deem he has learned his lesson.”

And that’s the end of that story.

This didn’t seem random. It was unlikely that this was a mistake. Perhaps whoever that was was trying to get someone’s attention. Maybe they were trying to warn someone. Whatever their intent was, Hornet _had_ to visit them. 

But she still had a prison break to plan out. She wanted to get done with it as soon as possible, maybe even tomorrow, but another day could be helpful. She still didn’t have a good place to hide the Hollow Knight once they got them out of prison. Not to mention she had to think of a way to create a carbon monoxide leak big enough to be noticed immediately. 

She had time. She reassured herself. She’d let herself have another day to plan, and she’d use that day to visit the hospital patient. This was okay. She had this under control.

She suddenly felt something tapping on her arm. She looked over at Ghost, who was starting up at her. They looked so innocent. It must be a blessing to be born without a mind. Hornet always thought their mindless nature was cruel-- no mind to think, no will to break, no voice to cry suffering. But in this case… she would have given plenty to switch places with her sibling. At this point, she envied their lack of worry. She doubted they were even aware of the pressure placed upon them. Hornet counted on them to defeat the Radiance again, but they didn’t even know that. 

They didn’t know anything.

Hornet put her arms around them. Perhaps it was because she wanted to calm herself down, but perhaps it was because she felt sorry for Ghost. The pressure she was feeling right now was nothing compared to what they would be feeling if they could feel. 

But she heard their heart beating in her arms. Their blood writhing within them. They looked helpless and innocent, but every beat of their heart in her ears was a reminder that they held the power of the void within them. They alone held the power to keep the all-consuming light at bay.

“She can’t win.” Hornet muttered. “You might not know your destiny, but I do. She can’t win.”

Even if there wasn’t even the slightest chance Ghost understood what she said, she hoped they’d remember that.


	12. The Hunt

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance searches for Hornet.

Before the Radiance had visited the Hollow Knight yesterday, She had planned to visit them again after then. But she had nothing else to say to them, and she doubted that the police would even let her back there again. So this day she planned to dedicate to Hornet. She would start at the bar she had worked at, and try to work her way up to find her location. 

She had Franklin drop her off at the bar. She told him to spend his time trying to find a lead on Grimm, but she was pretty sure he wasn’t going to, and she didn’t care too much about that. Grimm was probably the least of her worries-- the main reason she wanted to speak to him was to talk about what happened to the world. Other than that, he was pretty useless to her. 

At least, as far as she thought.

She entered the bar and sat at the counter with only one goal in mind. There weren’t too many people here today, since it was early morning and nobody sane would actually visit a bar in the morning.

One of the bartenders walked over to her and asked her lazily, “what do you want?”

“Your help.” she replied immediately. He looked up, the look on his face somewhere between confusion and annoyance.

“I don’t think I can help you.” he frowned. “Also, I have a girlfriend, and you look too old for me.”

Radi raised an eyebrow. “What gave you the idea that I was interested in you?”

“Women typically are.” he looked smug. He had a very punchable face, and it took the Radiance a lot of self control not to swing at him.

“I’m looking for your coworker.”

“Yeah, she’s straight.” He commented. He looked like he was proud of himself, like he just made a nice joke. The Radiance pursed her lips.

“I’m talking about the coworker that hasn’t been here for a few days.” she specified. 

“Oh! Yeah, what’s her name?” He taps the counter with one finger. “Herrah, I think. What a weird name. Can you imagine her parents coming together and thinking, yeah, I think Herrah’s a good name for--”

“Quiet.” Radi growled. “What do you know about her?”

He smirked. “I don’t know jack shit about her. All I know is she hasn’t been here these last few days and she’s made my job a hell of a lot harder.”

“Did anything happen the day she stopped coming to work?” Radi persists.

“She got a call or something and left.” he shrugs. “Why do you even care?”

“I’m her friend.”

“You sure you ain’t her girlfriend?” He looks proud of himself again. The Radiance really wants to punch him.

“Do you know the number that called her?”

He laughs. “You want me to go through our call history?”

“So you do have the number?”

“Probably somewhere. Might have to scroll a while on that phone.” He nods toward the phone on the wall, sitting behind the counter. The Radiance stands up and walks around to the other side of the bar before the bartender stops her.

“Yo, you can’t just walk back here.” He said. The nerve of this kid. Radi straightened her back so that she stood much taller than him.

“Watch me.” She hissed. She pushed him out of the way and headed toward the phone. The few people in the bar were looking at the two of them.

“Bro, you can’t just do that.” He said, without moving or making any attempt to stop her. “I mean, whatever, but like, you seem really into her. You sure she ain’t your girlfriend?”

Radi took the phone off the wall and began to scroll through the call history. It took her a second to realize that none of the numbers meant anything to her, and she’d definitely need someone else to interpret them.

“Sure, I’m her girlfriend.” The Radiance concedes, hoping that a lie might convince him to help her. “We’re very much in love. We got into an argument. She’s been ignoring me and she changed her number. I need to apologize to her.”

What a ridiculous story. Still, if it meant a way to get to Hornet, she didn’t mind telling an asinine lie. 

He barked a laugh. “I knew it! Sure, I’ll help you.” He started chuckling to himself as he made his way over to the phone. He took it from her hands and started to scroll through the history. 

“That’s my number, I called my girlfriend while she was working. That’s my girlfriend’s number, she called me while I was working. That’s my boss’s number, I can’t remember why he called, something about… eh, whatever. That’s my number again, and again, and again, and there’s my girlfriend’s num—“

“Once you get to a number that isn’t you or your girlfriend’s number, then I’d be happy to listen.” Radi sighed.

“Oh. Here. It was a few days ago. Can’t remember what they were calling about. She just sorta left after that.”

“Okay then.” Radi took the phone back and redialed the number. It rang for a moment, until someone picked up on the other line.

“This is PineWood county Elementary and Middle school, how may I help you?”

A school? Radi wasn’t expecting this at all. Why was she being called by a school? She already knew Hornet didn’t like children, and that was basically all a school was for. This made no sense whatsoever.

She looked over at the bartender. She’d have to keep up the girlfriend spiel to keep his suspicions low. “Yes, hello? This is Herrah’s girlfriend...Frankie.” The Radiance, despite being the god of dreams, was helpless at coming up with names. “I’m looking for her. You’re the last person who she’s contacted. I’m rather worried about her. Would you mind if I asked what her phone number is? I’d like to contact her.”

There’s a pause on the other line. “I’m sorry, but we can’t give you that information.”

“Well…” Radi paused, thinking. “Can you at least tell me why you called her? I haven’t heard anything back from her for a few days and I’m really worried. I visited her workplace first and you’re the last person to contact her.”

“We called regarding the situation concerning her younger brother.” The woman on the other line replied tartly. “I’m sorry, but I can’t give you any more information. Good day.”

“Wait—“ but the line was already dead. The Radiance had a death grip on the phone. That lady didn’t know it, but she had just hung up on a god. “Do you know where that school is?” Radi turned to the bartender boy abruptly.

“It isn’t too far from here.” He said carelessly. “You gotta head down 3 blocks that way and then take a left. Then walk 2 more blocks and it’s there on your right.”

Radi nodded. “Thank you.” She walked back around the counter, and grabbed the door handle. “You’ve been a decent help.”

“Anything for my coworker’s girlfriend.” He smirked, leaning back on the counter. Then he blew her a kiss.

_Damn, that boy is thick,_ she thought as she walked down the street. Normally she’s met with a little more resistance when she asks something of somebody. It didn’t fly over her head, though, the fact that he was definitely flirting with her, but honestly? Whatever worked worked.

She followed his directions and soon she found herself in front of a rather impressive looking school. It had a large courtyard in front, and a bunch of children were playing together on the playground. It was definitely a school-- and Radi was still very confused as to why the school had anything to do with Hornet. There was only one way to find out.

She started towards the big door in front. As she made her way through the courtyard, she felt eyes staring at her from all directions. It was a feeling that she didn’t find unpleasant, but she could see why some people might not like it. Still, she basked in the attention.

“Why’s she so big?” one of the smaller kids mumbled. 

“She’s taller than my daddy.” she heard someone say.

“She’s pretty.”

“Who is she?”

“Who are you?” one of the bigger kids asked her. He was standing in the middle of the crowd, but he stood out among the rest.

The Radiance stopped at him, and bent down slightly. “You’ll know soon enough.”

She didn’t hear anyone else say anything as she entered the building. 

She walked for a while, reading the plaques on the doors. She assumed she was looking for the principal, because she didn’t know who else would have answered the phone. But the hallways were winding, and she didn’t quite know the right way.

“What are you doing?” Someone asked from behind her. She turned around, and chuckled, adopting a clueless demeanor.

“I’m looking for the principal’s office.” she said. “I’m here to talk to my child. Apparently they were misbehaving.”

The woman’s shoulders relaxed. “It’s back that way. Take a right and then a left; you can’t miss it.”

“Ah, thank you miss.” Radi nodded to her before passing her on her way back to the principal’s office. She was right, you couldn’t miss it. Her office door was pretty impressive.

She turned toward the door and inhaled sharply. This woman probably had Hornet on speed dial. There was no doubt she had her contact, and she might even have her address. She only hoped she had her address.

She entered the room, and closed the door behind her without saying a word. The principal looked up at her, the expression on her face completely calm.

“I’m sorry, but I’m in the middle of something.” she answered calmly. “If you would like, you can wait here for me to finish, or you can wait outside, but I’m not taking any complaints right now.”

“Your opinion is not the one that matters here.” Radi says. “I don’t know if you recognize my voice, but if you do, you’ll know why I’m angry.”

They looked at each other for a moment. “You were the woman who called me a half an hour ago, weren’t you? I’m sorry, but I can’t just give out a parent phone number to anyone who asks.”

“I’m not just anyone, I’m her girlfriend.” Radi said. She was getting increasingly annoyed with this woman, and with her own stupid lie.

“And you have no proof of that, so I can’t help you.” Her voice was annoyingly calm.

“You know what…” Radi placed her hands on the principal’s desk. “I guess I don’t have proof of that. Let me show you something else that might persuade you.” she reached up to her face and pulled her glasses off, staring back into her eyes. “Tell me where she is.”

Shockingly, the principal didn’t react very much. She simply raised her eyebrows in curiosity. “That’s certainly impressive, and I don’t know how you did that, but it doesn’t change my mind.”

“Dear gods.” the Radiance hissed to herself. “I’m going to give it to you straight. You can either suffer for eternity or give me her phone number and address.”

“Listen, I know you’re upset, but this is quite overdramatic.” she sighs. “Please ma’am. Now is not the time for this.”

“I don’t think you understand this. Let me help you.” The Radiance flashed her a quick smile, before leaning over and grabbing her collar. She pulls her roughly across the desk like a ragdoll, while the principal grapples with the desk. Now Radi sees fear in her eyes. 

“Now…” Radi muttered. “Tell me what you know about Herrah.”

“I don’t know anything. Really.” she answers, eyes wide. 

“You don’t have anything?” Radi frowns. “Nothing?”

She shakes her head. Radi slams her back down against her desk, leaning over her as she presses against her chest. “You say you know nothing, but you told me before then that you have her phone number. What is it?”

She swallows. “It’s on the computer. You can find it there.”

“Okay…” Radi smiles, and loosens her grip on her collar. “Is her address on there too?”

“...No.”

“You don’t have her address on there?” Radi cooed. “Really?” 

“I swear I don’t.”

“Hmm.” she huffs, and then pulls the principal with her around the desk and in front of her computer. “Call her.”

Radi roughly plants her in her chair, and pushes it in. “You call her and you tell her to get her ass down here right now. Tell her to come alone. Tell her that the Radiance wants to speak to her.”

“Who?” she asks, her voice trembling slightly.

“The Radiance.” she repeats, her fingers digging into the principal’s shoulder. She watches as she opens her computer, finds the number, and dials it into the phone on her desk.

It rings for a moment. It rings again. It continues ringing.

“This number is no longer in service. If you think there is an issue with your telephone, please contact your service provider.”

The two of them stare at the receiver. Rage rises in the Radiance’s throat.

“The Gods damn you!” she suddenly pulls back the principal’s chair and grabs her once again by her shirt collar. She slams her against the wall, her eyes glowing with rage. “You must have told her. You’re in on it all. And I never would have thought Hornet would tell anyone about the Kingdom of Hallownest, about me.”

“What are you saying?” her face is contorted in fear. “Hornet? Hallownest? What are you talking about?”

“Don’t play dumb.” Radi pressed her harder into the wall. “There’s no way that number would be out of service unless someone told her I was looking for her. You must have told her to disable that number when I called asking where she was.”

“I don’t even know what you’re talking--”

“Shut up.” Radi hissed. “It doesn’t matter. Truly, it doesn’t. It doesn’t matter that you helped Hornet, because even if you didn’t, this would happen to you anyway.”

“...what are you…” she swallows, her eyes darting around the room. She starts to struggle. “HELP! SOMEONE HEL--”

The Radiance places her hand over her mouth. “Quiet. And stop moving-- it’ll only make this hurt more.”

Radi takes her right hand and poises it over the principal’s forehead. “Think of it as just speeding up the process.”

And she places her hand on her forehead.

…

Franklin had found Grimm.

It was more of a mistake really. There’s no way he would have ever found Grimm on his own. The description the Radiance gave him of Grimm was much more broad and common than the others. For one, he had a natural hair color-- one that wasn’t bright white. And for another, he seemed like the most normal person on her list.

Until he found out what his profession was.

On one hand, he kind of respected the guy. He seemed like he was living at the height of luxury-- or at least, he certainly wasn’t poor. Clearly what he did paid the bills, despite it being a rather debilitating job. On the other hand, he wasn’t quite sure that living the high life was worth a completely shattered reputation.

He found him by accident, actually. Franklin wanted to spend time with one of his friends, to try to get his mind off everything that’s been happening. He was just very careful not to drink anything, just in case he accidentally told them something about what was happening. It was partly because he liked his pride, and if his friends knew he was getting tossed around by a girl, despite the fact that she was an almighty god, they might not respect him as much. It was also partly because he feared for his life, and he might get his mind taken away if the Radiance found out he talked about her.

He had a very good time with his friend, and it helped to take his mind off of everything. It was when his friend began to talk about his girlfriend when things began to go downhill.

He started off by talking about how his girlfriend was obsessed with this guy, and at first he was okay with it, until she ended up getting more attracted to them then he felt she was attracted to him. Apparently it started to get annoying to him. She didn’t really care much about sleeping with him anymore, and he was almost sure it was because of this guy she was obsessing over. Turns out the guy did erotica for a living. He got pretty pissed off at her, and apparently now they’re taking a break. It was an interesting story, and Franklin listened to it pretty intently. He was even enjoying it for a while until his friend brought up the guy’s appearance.

“And get this-- I went up and checked out the dude’s content. He’s not even that good looking, and he’s got these weird ass contacts he wears. Kinda looks like snake eyes or some bullshit.” he had described. Frank had laughed for a bit, until he choked on his drink. 

“He’s pale as shit too.” his friend joked, patting Franklin on the back. “Wears some weird ass outfits. I’m telling you, women have weird tastes. Why they gotta go for the weirdos when there’s a perfectly good man right in front of you, am I right?”

Franklin didn’t bring that up again.

He had searched them up again later that day. At this point, he was curious about if this man was actually who he was looking for, because he didn’t seem like the kind of person the Radiance would want to find. But sure enough, he fit her description. Although he didn’t wear sunglasses. His eyes were part of the appeal.

Frank had found his website. It only had a few samples of the content, and most of it you had to pay for. He had watched one of the samples, and to be honest, it was very well done. It wasn’t his kind of stuff, it definitely wasn’t, but he couldn’t help but appreciate the time that went into editing this.

But apart from the content, he was having doubts about handing over this information to the Radiance. With Grimm found, he will have fulfilled her wishes for him, but something told him that she wasn’t going to let him go, even after he did everything she asked. He needed insurance. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much he could do to guarantee that she would let him go after he gave her the information.

His best bet was to tell her that if she wanted the information, she’d have to give him her word that she’d let him go. It was his best bet. Worst case scenario was that the Radiance would refuse, and threaten his life again, in which case, he’d probably cave and give her the information without any promises made on her part. Best case scenario was that she figured she didn’t need him anymore, and she would let him go after he gave her the information.

But at this point, he didn’t have anything to lose. 


	13. The Regret

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet is reunited with her father.

It was quiet. So, eerily quiet. The only noise that occasionally penetrated the deafening silence was a gust of air. 

The Abyss. It was deep, dark, and foreboding. Abandoned. The shades at the bottom had been docile ever since the Radiance had been consumed. The only thing that remained were the millions of corpses, all of pale, nameless children. It was silent. It was dark. It was completely and utterly dead.

But out of the darkness came a rattling sound. A hand thrust from the pile of corpses, pale, and almost glowing. It grappled with the bones and pulled itself upward. A man emerged, gasping for air. He was pale, thin, and shivering. His hair, matted and thin, hung haphazardly in front of his face. He pulled himself from the dead, looking like a zombie. He was shaking with every bone in his body. He grappled helplessly at the lifeless faces staring up at him, his eyes filled with fear. Panting, he looked at his hands, and then up into the endless stretch of bodies. Tears were forced from his eyes as he looked upon them.

The Pale King started to sob. He hunched over, cradling himself. His sobs echoed throughout the abyss, reverberating off the walls and the ceiling, only to return back to him. He was waiting for the void to drag him back down into the bodies of his dead children. He had been in a loop for so long. He would fight through the corpses, make it to the top. He’d then make a pointless, painful trek towards the top of the abyss, only to inevitably fall and get pulled back into the skulls of his children by the void. This was all he had known for centuries. This was it. This was his punishment. He was doomed to suffer the fate that every single one of his children met— a loveless, pointless life among thousands of their siblings— just a number within a pointless quest for revenge.

The Pale King sobbed until he ran out of tears. He didn’t want to climb up the abyss again. He knew he was just going to fall back into the corpses of his children, but he couldn’t bear to look into their lifeless faces, all staring back at him, telling him the same thing: _You brought this on yourself._

Climbing up the abyss was better than their faces staring at him. He started again, his limbs shaking with weakness and defeat. He was so utterly defeated. He just wanted to die, but he knew he wouldn’t get that sweet release until he had finally and completely relived every single one of his children’s lives. 

Everything hurt. Didn’t have any breath left in him, but he still climbed, a dead man walking. He clutched at the edge of each platform, wanting to scream in pain, but he couldn’t.

After all, he had no voice to cry suffering.

…

The Pale King sat bolt upright, in a cold sweat. He was breathing rapidly, irregularly. Where was he? This room was clean and white. This wasn’t the abyss. He wasn’t in the abyss. 

PK laid back down in his bed. He slowed his breathing, taking in his surroundings. Occasionally he had those nightmares. He didn’t know if it was just his mind, or if the void was still within them, constantly reminding him of his wrongdoings. He hated it. He hated himself. 

Someone opened his door. Out of instinct, he began to shiver, but this time it might have been real. Ever since he was visited by the Radiance in this hospital, he was overcome by genuine fear every time someone entered the room. He kept thinking that it was her, coming to take away his only pride— his mind. He didn’t even know at this point if he would be able to resist her. He was such a broken man that he doubted he could keep himself from her influence.

“Someone is here to see you.” The nurse who had opened his door said. Her voice was sweet and kind, but her voice didn’t deter from what she said. Had the Radiance come back to take his mind from him? He couldn’t let that happen.

As he was led out of the room though, something returned in his memory. He had pulled a strange stunt yesterday where he escaped the hospital simply to run around naked. Why did he do that again? To attract someone’s attention, of course. If there was even the slightest chance that someone had recognized him, then that whole stunt he pulled wasn’t a complete waste.

He was placed within the same room he met the Radiance in. In this moment, he began to regain his composure. He didn’t know who this was, but he was going to be somewhat presentable for them. He shook the nightmare out of his mind, and took a deep breath before the door began to open. He sat up straight as the visitor walked into the room.

They met each other’s eyes. They shared a moment of silence, simply staring into each other’s eyes. Both of them knew each other, but they were only an inch off from remembering who they were—

“Hornet?”

“Dad?”

It was quiet again, but PK felt tears at the corner of his eyes. “Hornet.” He stood up, and walked over to her. She didn’t make any moves— she just stood there, staring at him. She swallowed hard, only barely believing what she was seeing.

PK got to his knees and clasped his hands together. “I’m so sorry.”

Hornet didn’t know what to do, so she got to the floor too and wrapped her arms around him. She didn’t really know how to feel. She was never really close to her dad, and she had never approved of how he tried to trap the Radiance, but in a way, she looked up to him. She would never admit it, of course, but something within her wanted to get closer to him.

“You’ve gotten so much bigger.” The Pale King muttered in her ear. He would have said something more meaningful, but his mind was so fried that he couldn’t think of anything else.

“I think you just got smaller.” Hornet replied.

He choked out a laugh. “Maybe.”

They let go of each other. “I thought you were dead.” 

“If I’m being honest… so did I.” PK chuckled. 

“Where have you been?”

he stood up, and brushed himself off. “Here.”

“Yeah, I mean, for the last few centuries.” She rolls her eyes.

PK doesn’t say anything as he sits down. “I’ve been… well, I’ll tell you what I told her— I’ve been biding my time.”

“Told who?” Hornet asks, sitting down. She motions at the door, and someone else walks in with her— a little boy with white hair. 

“Who’s that?” He asks as the boy sits down.

“One of your children.” She answers. “Specifically, the one who united the void and vanquished the Radiance.”

“Oh. They’re the one who did that?” He looks at them. They’re staring back at him. Hornet removes their glasses, and their eyes are pitch black. PK looks impressed.

“Are they… hollow?”

“Yes.” Hornet answers. “More hollow than your Hollow Knight, apparently.” She shakes her head. “Wait, how’d you know about the Radiance being vanquished?”

“Because she’s back.”

“I know that.” She replies. “Is that what you wanted to warn me about with that stunt you pulled yesterday?” She smirks. “By the way, that was hilarious.”

“I’m sorry, but I wanted to make sure it caused a big enough ruckus to get on the news. I wasn’t taking any chances.”

“Yeah, yeah.” Hornet mutters. “Still though, just because she’s back doesn’t tell you how she was vanquished in the first place.”

PK grit his teeth. “Well… she’s back, yes, but… she’s… she’s physically manifesting in the real world.”

Hornet narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“You might be familiar with the Nightmare King.” PK says. Hornet nods. “He has manifested himself in the real world through a vessel known as Grimm. It seems the Radiance took a page out of his book.”

Hornet’s jaw drops. “You’re… you’re not serious.”

PK nods gravely. “She visited me, in fact. I don’t know how she managed to track me down, but she came with this man. In fact, she was about to try and forcefully take my mind when he stepped in and stopped her.”

Hornet shook her head, trying to process this information. “What does that mean then?”

“I’m not quite sure.” He mutters. “I know it means that trying to trap her inside a hollow vessel’s mind again won’t work.”

“Clearly.” Hornet placed her hands on the table. They share an awkward moment of silence.

Hornet narrowed her eyes. “Where have you been these last few centuries?” She repeats suddenly. “I could have used your help, but you just disappeared before the fall of Hallownest.”

His face gets dark. “I was… pulled in by the void. I think initially it was just my mind. I just remember darkness. A lot of darkness. And pain. It was a lot of pain.” He stopped, quickly deciding not to tell Hornet what he suffered through. That was a weakness he didn’t want anyone to know. “I woke up in the Abyss a few years ago. I came up from Hallownest and came to this city, and I’ve spent my time here until now.”

Hornet was listening intently. “You… woke up in the abyss?”

“I thought that was pretty clear.”

“...how did you get… up here?”

“I just…” the Pale King and Hornet stare at each other for a long moment. “You don’t know?”

“I don’t know what?” She asks quietly. There’s another moment of silence.

“Hallownest exists… underneath this city.” PK says slowly. “Did you not know that?”

“I knew It existed near here.” Hornet mutters. “I thought it was all sealed off once this city was created. There’s no trace of it anymore.”

“It might seem that way, wouldn’t it?” The Pale King starts to smile. “But somebody thought that it might be helpful to get back there eventually. I don’t know who, but I’m quite grateful for them.”

“What are you talking about?”

PK taps his fingers on the table. “I’m saying there’s a way back into Hallownest, and the way back is right in this very city.”

Hornet’s eyes widen slightly. “I thought for sure there was no way back. There’s no trace of anything above ground. Even the crystal peak seems to have just disappeared. That and the Howling cliffs. And there was a small town called Dirtmouth at the surface. There’s no trace of that.”

PK raised his eyebrows. “This city _is_ Dirtmouth. Or it was, at least. It was drastically expanded, obviously. And the old well in that place that led to the rest of Hallownest and the crossroads was hidden, almost sealed off, but not quite.”

Hornet continued to listen in. 

“There’s a parking garage near the middle of the city. Nobody really controls it anymore, but the elevator still miraculously works. Some say it’s abandoned, but like I said, the elevator still works. That garage is the key to getting back into Hallownest.”

“How?”

PK drums his fingers on the table again. “Calling the elevator to the ground floor will cause the elevator doors on that floor to open. You can jam those outside doors open, and call the elevator to the second floor. That’ll reveal a hole in the elevator shaft, which you can then climb down into. It pretty much just looks like another level of the garage, except there’s no windows because it’s underground. Now, there’s a truck parked right up against the wall, and you can actually crawl right underneath it into another room. This one is pretty small. The floor is slanted dirt. It looks like that room is where it ends, but if you walk up against the stone wall on one side, you can actually push it inwards. Behind that wall you’ll finally see the entrance to Hallownest. It’s a door, about eight feet tall, and there’s a basin sitting next to it. You’re going to have to place a drop of your blood within it— that way it recognizes you’re from Hallownest, and you’re directly related to our kind. The door will open then, and you’ll be able to enter. Make sure to close it right after.”

Hornet doesn’t speak for a moment.

“Did you get all that?”

“Yes.” She nodded. “I can’t believe I didn’t know this.”

“I think I’m the only one who does.” He replies. “At least, I’m the only one above ground who knows.”

Hornet perks up at this. “There’s people underground? In Hallownest?”

PK nods. “Of course. I’m sure there were people in Hallownest when you protected it, you know, after the Hollow Knight couldn’t contain her anymore. Why would this be any different?”

“I suppose.” Hornet looked preoccupied. Currently, she was thinking about the Hollow Knight. She had, of course, planned to break them out of prison, and her biggest issue was trying to find a place to hide them. With this information, she could easily hide the Hollow Knight from the police, and she probably wouldn’t even need to take as much care breaking them out of the station. With this information, she could afford to take a few chances with this plan, since she wouldn’t need to worry about hiding from them. This changed everything.

“Are you…” the Pale King tilted his head. 

“I was planning something… right before I came here.” Hornet says slowly. “With this, I’ll be able to do it.”

“What are you trying to do?”

“...you’ll hear about it. Trust me.” Hornet didn’t want to chance anyone hearing her plans to break into a prison. “Dad… thank you.”

PK simply nodded back. He still felt guilty for not spending enough time with Hornet back in his prime. The words that the Radiance had said were ingrained in his memory, about him using Herrah to help contain her. About how powerful Hornet could be if he didn’t take her mother away from her.

Or how powerful she would be if he trained her in fighting.

“Wait.” He spoke as she stood up. “I know you’re not showing it… but I can tell you have some contempt towards me.”

Hornet pursed her lips. “That’s putting it lightly.”

There’s an uncomfortable silence. He regrets saying anything.

“Better not to bring it up.” She says bitterly. 

“I just—“

“Want to let go of your regret?” Hornet suggests. She doesn’t sound angry, just dejected. “You’re going to live with that forever.”

“I’m sorry I took your mother away from you.”

“Wow, that really does it.” Hornet turns toward him again, just to help Ghost out of their chair. “I’ve completely forgotten everything— how I grew up without a dad, how my mother was taken away from me when I was young, all that, completely gone.”

She had a cold, distant look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry.” He repeats. “Really, I am.”

“And where did this sudden regret come from?” Hornet asks skeptically. 

PK doesn’t respond. It was a decent question— even he didn’t know the answer. Perhaps it had been facilitated by the Radiance’s words, or it had something to do with his regret over his vessel children. Either way, he was definitely feeling it, but he wasn’t sure if his desire for Hornet to forgive him was because he wanted her to realize he was truly sorry, or if it was because he just wanted to get this regret off of his chest.

“Came out of nowhere.” Hornet muttered to herself. She placed her hand on Ghost’s shoulder, and began to lead them towards the door.

It came to the forefront of PK’s mind that that was his child too. He was seized by a sudden urge to apologize to them too, before realizing that they were hollow and they wouldn’t understand any of his stammered apologies.

“I wish you the best of luck.” He says simply. Better not to pursue the subject.

“And I you.” Hornet turned away and left the room.

The Pale King would wonder for the rest of the day whether or not he should have told her the truth.

…

The plan was ready. It was flawed, but like she thought, she could afford that. Set off a carbon monoxide leak as a distraction near the prisoners— that would draw people away from them, or if in the case the prisoners were escorted out, Hornet figured that in the chaos she’d be able to slip away with the Hollow Knight. It was simple from then on out— go to the abandoned parking garage, and enter Hallownest. She was ready. She wanted to bring her old outfit with her, and Ghost’s too. She thought it was only fitting that she returned to her old home in her authentic outfit as well. 

She was packing up for tomorrow. She planned to wear her outfit underneath a hoodie and sweatpants, and hoped that it would be inconspicuous enough. Ghost’s outfit fit well underneath their city clothes, seeing as they could go out in baggier clothing without being too suspicious. Still, even though it might have been easier to leave behind their old stuff, Hornet was way too stubborn— there was no way she would return to Hallownest without their authentic Hallownest garb and weaponry.

She was ready.

Tomorrow would be the time.


	14. The Pornstar

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance gathers information about The Nightmare King.

The Radiance and Franklin stood about a meter away in her apartment. He had just entered, with knowledge of a certain Nightmare King in his mind. He had made up his mind about the ultimatum— and he had decided to present it to her. He kept reminding himself that he had nothing to lose, but her eyes made him want to cower in fear.

“I have information about Grimm.”

The Radiance raised her eyebrow. She hadn’t expected this— she was almost sure he wasn’t going to look around yesterday for information. “Spill it.”

“See…” he clasps his hands together, smiling nervously. “I will, I’ll totally give you the information, but… I just want to ask for a promise.”

“Hmm.” Radi couldn’t deny the fact that she was expecting this, or at least something like it. She couldn’t keep the guy around forever. “What exactly are you seeking?”

“See, I just… not that I don’t love doing this, but I’d like to go back to my house and live the rest of my life.” He says this all very quickly. “And I want you to promise that you’ll let me go after I give you this information.”

The Radiance smirks. “You don’t need to lie to me.” She walks toward him, and stops a foot in front of him. “Sure. I’ll let you go. As long as you don’t tell a soul about me. Because if you do, you’ll regret it.”

“No, of course not.” He shakes his head frantically. “Of course I won’t.”

“Then it’s a deal.” She begins to walk around him. “Where is the Troupe Master?”

“Well…” he looks at Radi before reaching into his bag and pulling out a laptop. “I don’t quite know where he is, but I know what he does, and I know he’s in this city.”

“How, exactly?” Radi watches as he opens the laptop and enters the passcode. She makes a note of it in the back of her mind.

“See…” he’s having trouble saying that Grimm is an erotica content creator. “I mean, I found his website, if you’d like to take a look at it.”

“Perhaps.” The Radiance takes a seat on the couch, and motions for him to give her the computer. She knew how to use one, just as of yesterday. She’s been growing in her knowledge of technology, mostly through pertinent observation. As much as people might assume she’s completely clueless on everything, because she’s an age old god, she’s rather self-sufficient.

She takes the laptop in her hands and begins to look at the website. It takes her a whole minute to process what she’s seeing. Her face gets redder and more unsettled as she scrolls down the page.

“Well…” she sighs, closing the laptop. “I would have never expected this from him.”

“Uh huh.” Frank clasps and unclasps his hands nervously. “If you don’t mind, I think I’ll be going now.”

He reaches down to grab the laptop, but Radi grabs his arm to keep him from moving anymore. “Not yet. I have one more thing to ask of you.”

He stands up straight again. “What is it?”

“Pay for a full month of this... website.” She taps the laptop. “And let me keep the laptop for a bit.”

“You—“ he looks shocked. “I need my laptop. And I’m not gonna buy that just so I can help you get off to him.”

Radi narrows her eyes, frowning. “Is your laptop more valuable than your mind? You’re going to do this if you want to leave.”

He doesn’t say anything for a moment, until he scoffs and takes the laptop back. He starts to enter in his account information.

“You freak.” He hissed. “You made me do all this to wank to him?”

“Do you really believe I want that?” Radi frowns. “The Nightmare King is more of a brother to me than anything else. I have absolutely no interest in doing any of your... physical affection with him.”

He scoffs. “Whatever.” He shoves the laptop back into her hands. “Enjoy that.”

“Let me remind you that I control you.” She says to him as he turns toward the door. “And you’re on thin ice. I’d tread carefully from now on, if I were you.”

He pauses for a moment in the doorframe. He doesn’t turn back to look at her— he’s worried if he does her eyes will freeze him in the doorframe and he won’t be able to move.

But he takes a deep breath and places one foot in front of the other, leaving the apartment for the last time.

…

The Radiance did not enjoy looking through Grimm’s content.

As the God of light, she never quite understood humans’ desire for sexual contact when it didn’t result in offspring. She thought the only purpose of this activity was to have a child— she didn’t understand how anyone could find pleasure in it. And Grimm, being of a similar stock to her (he was, after all, the god of Nightmares, while she was the god of Dreams) she expected to have the same aversion to this kind of activity that she did.

Clearly this wasn’t the case.

What she really found surprising was the fact that he’d actually consider this as a career. He was extremely protective of his image— In fact, during the years that the Pale King ruled over Hallownest, his image was pristine. He was somewhat of a legend. Now he was selling his body like a common whore.

She had trouble focusing during any of his videos. She was mostly looking for clues about where he might live or where she might be able to find him, but after the first three, she wondered if this was actually worth it. She had gotten no information whatsoever from them, other than a very, very good look at the entirety of the Nightmare King’s vessel. It made her wildly uncomfortable.

Halfway through the fourth video, she got a glance of an apartment number. Now, perhaps the number was completely random, but it was a lead nonetheless. She grew slightly more hopeful, but her hope drained quickly every time she caught another good glimpse of Grimm.

She had watched ten videos and was now thoroughly disturbed, and she still only had a few tidbits of information, including a screenshot of the skyline seen from Grimm’s apartment (she had printed out the picture, and scribbled out the entirety of the Troupe Master in the photo. It didn’t completely get the image out of her mind, but it was better than nothing)

And so her info contained a few apartment numbers, a skyline, and a good bit of what the inside of Grimm’s apartment looked like. If she could find the building he resided in, then she’d probably be able to find his exact residence by flying up into the sky and looking out for his vibrantly decorated apartment.

But that meant she’d have to find out his building.

Now, she could spend another hour looking through Grimm’s erotica, and perhaps she’d be able to get a clue of where his building stood, but she didn’t think it was worth it. There had to have been a better way to do this.

The only thing that came to her mind was his fans. Out of anyone, they’d definitely have the best idea of where he lived. Still, she’d have to find people who were a fan of him, and she didn’t really know the best way to do that.

She spent a moment just looking at the computer screen, thinking. Suddenly, her face drained of color. It came to her in a moment that the best place to find people associated with him was in a place related to his profession.

A strip club, so to speak.

Now she had to make a decision. Go through another hour of Grimm’s content on the slight chance she’d be able to get a vague clue as to where he resided, or go to a club, where she might be able to get accurate information as to where he was.

The choice was obvious. The Radiance would rather watch anyone else strip than to continue going through this website. The last hour was comparable to her time spent consumed by the void.

…

11:30 PM. That was the time in which the Radiance vowed to enter the most well known strip club in the city. And it was one of the worst experiences of her life.

She didn’t quite know what she was expecting, but it wasn’t this. The place was packed— music was blaring, and women in lingerie danced on poles all around the room. Radi couldn’t stand hunched over enough. For once, she wished she was an average height. She felt freezing, and she wondered how the women up there weren’t shivering. She really, really didn’t want to look up around at anyone, but she knew she had to eventually. She was almost afraid to see Grimm here, if he was. She didn’t expect him to be— she mostly just came here on the off chance she’d find someone associated with him. But she really didn’t feel like talking to anyone. She’d hoped someone would come walking into her field of view and she’d recognize them, perhaps from Grimm’s webpage, or anything. 

It hadn’t occurred to her that she might be mistaken for someone who worked in the field. Perhaps it was her hair, or her height, or impressive proportions, or her fair skin, but she herself never would have imagined that she would ever be even comparable to a stripper. That was before someone came up behind her and placed her hand on her shoulder. She stiffened up immediately, her eyes widening.

“Hey.” A husky voice came from her right, and she looked down into this man’s eyes. He was conventionally attractive— he had dark brown hair that was tousled attractively in front of his face, with high cheekbones and a dashing smile. The Radiance’s heart skipped a beat at his face— she recognized him from one of Grimm’s videos.

“You are dashing, might I say.” He tapped her shoulder, smiling. “Can I buy you a drink, m’lady?”

Radi absentmindedly adjusted her sunglasses as she looked into his eyes. She didn’t quite know how to respond to this situation— but this was absolutely perfect. If she could just get him to spill on where Grimm’s residence was, she’d be completely good to go.

“Of course.” She replied easily, a small smile curling on her lips. The man patted her on the back and led her to the bar. She adjusted herself on the seat as he took a seat next to her.

“Hey!” He waved a bartender over. “A whiskey, and…” he glanced over at the Radiance.

“Surprise me.” She said. She said this mostly because she didn’t know any of the names of the drinks. He smirked and ordered something for her.

“I’m Victor.” He introduces himself. “And might I ask your name, beautiful?”

“Beatrice.” That name came from absolutely nowhere. Radi wasn’t sure where she had ever even heard that name. “But they call me the Radiance. Radi, for short.”

The last sentence was tossed on reluctantly. It came to her mind that if she pretended to be in the business she’d have a better chance of getting information.

“Fitting, since you are absolutely radiant.” Victor bent over to kiss her hand. Radi noticed their drinks had arrived, and she took hers quickly. He was getting increasingly closer to her, and she didn’t quite like that. Perhaps her acting was okay, but she wasn’t going to go as far as, say, the Nightmare King.

“I recognize you.” She begins as she takes a sip of the drink. She has to take a moment to hide her reaction to it. Why did people like this? It was so bitter. “From the Scarlet Master’s webpage.” (Scarlet Master was Grimm’s pornstar name)

“Oh…” he chuckled. “Yes, of course. I mean, I’ll do it with a man, but that was mostly for the money. He’s rather famous, as you probably know.”

Radi wasn’t super familiar with this. She began to wonder, how famous was Grimm in the field of erotica?

“Of course.” She said. “I’ve actually been looking to collaborate with him.”

“Aww…” he frowns. “Is that all you want with me? To get to him?”

The Radiance was surprised he picked up on that so quickly. “Of course not, my dear. I simply wondered, that’s all.”

“Hmm.” She took a sip of his whiskey. “You know, I don’t mind. If you are using me to get to him. It’s all just business, I know. I’d be lying if I said I didn’t do it before too.”

The Radiance raised an eyebrow. She was slightly surprised at this— but she wasn’t unpleased. “What do you mean, you don’t mind?”

“Well, it seems like you’re just starting out in the industry.” He says. “I’ve never heard of your alias, and I’ve been in this industry for a while. I know practically everyone here. I’d like to help you, you know. You have potential.”

It took the Radiance a moment to figure out what he was suggesting. “You want to help me grow my career?”

“Of course.” He said. “You’ll need some recommendations first. You can’t just get a slot with the Scarlet Master without anybody recommending you.”

“Recommendations?”

“Of course.” He smiled. “If you wanted, I have a room ready right now. If he saw you were acquainted with me then you might have a chance of getting a spot with him.”

She took a second to process what he just said. “You’re saying you’d like to sleep with me so I can get a spot with him.”

“Only if you wouldn’t be opposed to it.” He shrugs, sipping his drink again.

The Radiance considered this for a moment. There was obviously no way she’d sleep with anyone— not even for her own gain. But if he was truly going to take her away from this area to somewhere private, she’d be able to safely threaten him into giving her Grimm’s building and apartment number. She wondered for a quick second whether he’d actually give in to threats, but her intimidating demeanor hadn’t failed her yet, and it wasn’t about to now.

“I’d love to.” She placed her hand on his cheek, smirking. Victor took the smirk as a sexy gesture, when in reality she was savoring the fact that he was about to be pulled into a trap like a rather annoying fly. 

He took her upstairs to one of the hotel rooms, one that he had set up for filming. He was quiet for the entire walk, and so was the Radiance. Both of them had very different ideas of how the next few minutes would play out.

“I assume you know how this is going to go?” He asks as he closes the door behind them. He walks over to the bed, hand in hand with the Radiance. 

“You better not be assuming this is my first time.” She purred. 

“Well of course not, baby.” There wasn’t a second before he pulled her close to him, and placed his hands on her hips. She closed his eyes and pulled her in to kiss her.

The Radiance was done playing now.

She grabbed his shirt collar and turned him around towards the wall. Victor had taken it for a feisty grab, but it wasn’t until he felt his body being pushed roughly against the wall that he realized this wasn’t going to be a soft, sweet session.

“I wasn’t expecting that.” He starts chuckling. “I really didn’t take you for a rough girl.”

This was not what Radi was expecting at all. “I’m going to give it to you very straight— you’re in my way. I need information from you.”

He laughs. “Listen, I am in no way opposed to some good roleplay, but at least tell me the skit before we continue, m’kay, baby?”

Radi didn’t move for a second. She just kept eye contact with him for a quick moment, before she yanked him away from the wall and threw him on the floor.

“Ow.” He groaned. “Okay, okay, you can dominate. Why didn’t you just ask me? You don’t need to hurt me.”

“I think I do, actually.” She places her foot on his chest, taking the stance she used on the Pale King and on Franklin. It hadn’t failed her yet.

Victor looked up into her eyes. “Hot damn. You look even better from this angle. Maybe I will just let you lead.”

What in the name of her was he talking about? Where was the fear? Was he getting off on this? Why? This was meant to terrify him, not to turn him on.

“Tell me Grimm’s address.” She hissed. “You think this is a kind of game? I’m not screwing around. Give me the address.”

“Listen, sorry, I’m not gonna do that. I’ll give it to you after we get down to business.” He replied lazily. “Which by the way, you’re doing phenomenal—“

There’s a flash of light, and suddenly the Radiance is holding a sword in her hand, pointed at his chin. “Tell me where he is.”

His expression grows slightly concerned. “...I don’t know how you did that, but… that’s kinda far.”

“Far!” The yelled, her face growing angrier. “I’m threatening you, you dirty minded whore! Don’t you understand that?”

He’s smirking again. “Degradation. I like your style”

This wasn’t working. The Radiance looked into his smug face, and searched it for a weakness. It took her a moment, but she finally let herself calm down, and smile again.

“You have a beautiful face.” Her tone had changed from angry and threatening to steady and calm. In a way, this tone was deadlier than the other one. “It would be such a shame if…” she placed the tip of her sword at the corner of his mouth. “...someone ruined it.”

His face goes white. As soon as she sees fear rise in his eyes, Radi is content once again.

“That’s too far.” He stammers. “Do we have a safeword?”

“There are no safewords here.” She purrs. “We’re not playing a game.”

“No, no, seriously. We need a safeword.” He repeats.

The Radiance frowns, and places the sword against the edge of his mouth. Slowly, she pushes against the edge, drawing blood. Victor whimpers for a moment, and then starts to shriek.

“Quiet.” The Radiance spoke, her voice echoey. She stopped the sword as it began to cut his mouth open. She took it out of his mouth, and looked him dead in the eyes.

“Where is he.” She demanded.

“Okay, okay.” He panted, shaking. “He lives in apartment number 4504. There’s a building on the east side of the city part of the Haddison Night Club. It’s their complex of apartments. That’s where he lives. Don’t hurt me please. I don’t know who you are, but please don’t ruin my face. Please.”

She looks at him for a moment, taking in his pathetic form. “Speak a word of this to anyone, and I’ll take your face, and then your life. “

“No, no, I won’t.” 

She smiles, and for the first time, Victor sees the true emotion in her expression. She takes off her sunglasses and stares at him, a look of triumph in her eyes. “Good.”

She steps off of him, and walks over to the first camera in the room. She takes it off the tripod and drops it on the ground, crushing it underneath her feet. Victor flinches, watching it shatter into pieces.

“Can you maybe not—“

But she had already walked over to the other camera and smashed it too. She wasn’t leaving any evidence of her here. 

“Consider yourself lucky I didn’t decide to take your mind.” She says and she steps over him towards the door. “This night has been an absolute nightmare.”

She turns away from him for the last time.

It was only fitting it was a nightmare. After all, she was searching for the Nightmare King.


	15. The Escape

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet breaks the Hollow Knight out of Prison.

Hornet and Ghost stood at the corner of the police station parking lot. She had a bag containing a number of things, including a large number of rags she planned to use to disable the ventilation system. She had a halfpiece respirator for her to use to keep herself from getting carbon monoxide poisoning. She had two sources of carbon monoxide production she could use— the first, and most reliable, was the lab. She planned to set it on fire— and normally this would have created a big enough distraction, but she wanted to make sure it kept people away from the inmates for a good bit. She planned to reroute the fumes from the fire to where they kept the prisoners— and once they realized that there was carbon monoxide in the air there, they’d steer clear of the area until the professionals came in. That would leave Hornet enough time to grab the Hollow Knight and sneak out of the station.

It was a convoluted, complicated plan, but she thought it was better than just waltzing in and trying to pry them out of the station’s grasp without a plan at all.

She and Ghost snuck around the perimeter of the police station, making their way to the lab. They stuck close to the wall as they made their way to the first floor lab and peered into it from the window. It was empty, so Hornet stood up and took her needle from her back. It was poorly concealed, but it would be her most important possession once she made it to Hallownest, so she wasn’t leaving it behind.

She placed the tip to the window, and slowly cut through the glass. It wasn’t super effective, but it was quiet, and that was what was important.

Once it was cut, she pushed in the window and caught the glass before it hit the floor. Ghost climbed in after her, and immediately walked over underneath the ceiling vent. Hornet went over and climbed on top of the counter to push the vent up. She grabbed her sibling and hoisted them into the vent. She jumped back onto the floor and grabbed the bundle of rags, and handed them up to Ghost. They pulled them into the vents with them and looked back at Hornet.

“You remember— cover every single one of the vents except for the few near the cells, you got that?”

They nodded.

“Go now.” She said. “Quick as possible. Hurry.”

Ghost nodded and started crawling one way through the vent. They were quick and agile, making almost no noise as they ran through them. 

In the meantime, Hornet opened all of the cabinets in the lab— even cracking the locks on the locked cabinets. She gathered every flammable substance in the room, while constantly watching the lab door. As soon as she opened the first bottle, she heard the lock on the door click, and she immediately zipped towards it, pressing herself against the wall next to the door. She saw the door open, and hoped to god it was only one person.

“What the hell…” she heard them mutter. She saw one foot step inside from behind the door, and she heard them rummaging somewhere for a moment.

He had barely just stuck his hand in his pocket when Hornet forced the door closed with her heel and jumped onto the man’s back. He yelled for a moment, until Hornet pulled a small rag from her bag and gagged him. He stumbled backward and tried to slam Hornet against the wall, but she quickly slid down his back and pulled his legs upward, bringing him forward onto the ground with a loud grunt. She then straddled his hips and tied his hands with spider silk, her eyes in perfect concentration.

“Sorry. It isn’t personal.” She muttered as she finished tying his hands and pulled a blindfold from her pocket. She wrapped it around his face and then brought him to his feet. He tried for a moment to move on his own, before he found the sharp point of her needle digging into his back. “You’ll thank me eventually.”

She led him toward the broken window, and pushed him through it, following him quickly. Once he was outside and on the ground, she tied his legs too, to keep him from moving anywhere.

Once that was taken care of, she began to open every single one of the flammable bottles she found. Carefully, she emptied all of them onto the floor of the lab, making sure all the surfaces were well coated. Once she finished, her only task was to keep watch until Ghost returned. She didn’t know how long it would be, but she hoped to god nobody else would walk in. She didn’t exactly like hogtying innocent people.

She stood next to the door for a good 10 minutes, until she heard a faint shuffling in the vents. Ghost peeked their head down at her.

“Good.” She muttered. She placed the bag on the soaked lab floor, knowing there was nothing else in it they needed. She climbed to the counter and jumped into the vent with her sibling. She placed the respirator she had brung over her mouth and nose, pulling it tight. She looked over at Ghost for a moment, before lighting a match. She held it over the open vent, and dropped it into the lab.

With a satisfying _whoosh_ sound, the room lit up. It burned loud and bright, and Hornet quickly felt her knees heating up as the heat from the fire rose.

“Go go go.” She hissed, motioning for Ghost to move. They quickly turned and began to lead her through the vents.

She could hear a lot of chatter in the rooms below them. She had to move relatively slowly to keep herself quiet, but she slowly noticed it was getting less and less crucial. There was a lot of noise below. They had definitely stirred up some commotion.

After 10 minutes, Hornet could start to sense the gas in the vents with her. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning included dizziness, a feeling of sickness, and difficulty breathing. She felt perhaps the slightest bit lightheaded, but for the amount of time she’d been exposed to this it wasn’t nearly as bad as it should have been.

After a bit, they made it to the cells. Hornet was the first to pull up the vent and look down to see where they were. There was a lot of beeping in those rooms, probably from carbon monoxide detectors. She could see yellow caution tape a while down the hallway. Surprisingly, there were still people in the cells. Hornet couldn’t see the Hollow Knight anywhere, but she hoped he hadn’t been escorted out already.

As soon as she saw someone round the corner into the hallway, she pulled her head back up into the vent and closed it. She watched a few men in respirators come into the room. There were a few exchanged words, and they walked out with one of the inmates.

It gave Hornet a simple idea.

“Ghost.” She muttered. “I’m going to need you to be very discreet. Don’t let anyone see you.” She looked behind her and then back at Ghost. “Meet me outside. Leave the vents near one of the exits, don’t worry about blocking the vents anymore— we did what we needed to do with that.”

They nodded and crawled away from Hornet through the vent. Once they had turned the corner, Hornet looked back down into the hallway. She took a deep breath before removing the vent cover and dropping down into the hallway. She looked to both her right and her left— and nobody had seen her drop down. She brushed herself off as she walked down the hallway in a calm demeanor, looking for that familiar silhouette. She began to lose hope as she finally walked past the Hollow Knight— covered in white prison garb. They were staring at the floor, their white hair hanging down over their eyes and face.

“Hollow.” Hornet hissed immediately. Their neck snapped up toward her, and she could see that one of their eyes had gotten infected since the last time they saw them. It wasn’t too much of a shock, but she wasn’t quite expecting it. “Now’s the time.”

Hornet pulled out a paper clip from her pocket and began to pick the lock on their cell as the Hollow Knight stood up. It took her a moment, but eventually the door swung open and Hollow walked out. Hornet grabbed their one arm and began to lead them back out of the hallway. Her breath caught when two other men came down the hallway, but they didn’t pay her any attention. Apparently she blended in well enough, or perhaps the men didn’t really care. Either way, she was way too grateful for their cluelessness.

She walked hand in hand with the Hollow Knight all the way back to the entrance of the building. There was a large number of police officers, scientists, and secretaries standing out in the courtyard, looking either worried or annoyed. At first, nobody came up to Hornet to ask her anything, but soon there was an officer that walked over to her and asked, “Name, ID, and inmate name?” He was holding a clipboard, with a pen poised over the paper.

“Officer Deepnest, 157828, with Mister Davidson, sir.” She said immediately. Somehow, she didn’t stammer a word. Every word flowed well, and she sounded believable. The man checked his clipboard.

“Hmm…” he ran his pen down the paper. “Officer Wilde was supposed to pick up Davidson. I’m gonna have to ask you to stay right here while I get him. Maybe he told someone else to grab him. It’s unlikely but…” he sighed, and walked away.

Hornet considered making a break for it, but Hollow didn’t look remotely ready to run. And they were surrounded by police officers. Her lightheadedness started to leave her, which was good, but it also meant some anxiety was returning. She’d look really suspicious if she tried to run.

Her eyes met Hollow’s. They were looking at her as if they were trying to warn her of something, but their feet were planted firmly on the ground.

They were probably telling her not to move.

She stood there for a moment. Nobody returned for a bit, and she was wondering where the officer had gone, when her other sibling burst through the crowd. They weren’t being discreet at all— and for someone who was mindless, they looked like they were quite worried.

“Ghost!” Hornet hissed once they reached her. “What are you doing?”

They looked into her eyes, and they were wide behind their sunglasses. They took one hand and pointed to nowhere in particular.

“Where are you pointing to?” She asked, confused. They simply pointed again, but with more urgency. “I don’t—“

Everything came to her in a moment. And an urgent, angry voice coming from her right only confirmed her suspicions.

“She’s the one! Get her!”

It was an instinct. She forcefully pulled the Hollow Knight with her as she dived headlong into the crowd. Eyes wide with only one destination in mind, she forced her way through the crowd with Ghost at her side and the Hollow Knight running behind her. They were safe as long as they ran with others, but it was when they got out in the open that they were in trouble.

She couldn’t hear anything but the wind rushing past her ears, but she could definitely make out the unmistakable sound of a firing gun. There was no cover. She reacted in the next best way— ripping her needle from her back and slicing the air in front of her. She heard three loud _tings_ from it— three bullets traveling faster than the speed of sound had hit it. 

Her ears were ringing as she slid behind one of the cars in the parking lot. She hadn’t really expected they were going to fire at her, but at least she was prepared for it now. She looked to her right, where Ghost sat, looking small next to the car. To her left sat the Hollow Knight, large and awkward trying to fit behind the car. She noticed her hoodie had ripped down the back from when she pulled out her needle, and her cloak was flowing freely behind her. It didn’t make any sense to keep it anymore, so she quickly pulled the hoodie off over her head and slid the sweatpants off her legs, revealing her beautiful crimson outfit from Hallownest. 

It took just a simple glance at her outfit to give her a surge of confidence. 

She was Hornet. The princess of Deepnest and the daughter of the Pale King and Herrah. Next to her sat the vessel that battled the Radiance for a century, nearly fulfilled their father’s expectations, and endured more than she had in their whole life. The Hollow Knight. And to her other side sat the vessel, forgotten but completely Hollow, the one who vanquished the Radiance centuries ago by uniting the void against her.

What were a few police officers to this trio?

Hornet brought her hand to her face and ripped the respirator off. She stood up and turned around to look at the officers, who had their guns pointed at her. They didn’t fire, but they didn’t look like they’d hesitate.

Hornet took a deep breath and finally let herself smile. She walked out from behind the car, and motioned for her two siblings to stay. “Come on. Fire.” She yelled. She spun her needle in her hand, her confidence rising with every spin. “Fire, you cowards. If you hit me then you can reclaim your prisoner. If not, then you’ll have to catch me.”

Nobody fired. The men with their guns up began to lower them. She saw somebody say to them from over there, “You can’t fire on a defenseless person when they don’t pose a threat.”

“Or you can just wait.” Hornet said. “And I’ll tell my two siblings to run far far away.”

There’s not a sound.

“If you advance at all then we’re running.” She says. “You either fire or not. I’ll count. Five. Four. Three. Two—“

She’s cut off by the sharp sound of their fire. She’s ready though, and brings the sword up in an instant. Four _tings_. None of them even came close to hitting her.

“You lose.” She lowers her needle slightly. “Try to catch me.”

She bolts. She grabs Ghost from behind the car and roughly jerks the Hollow Knight off with her. She hears a few shots, but she’s gone down the street before she hears any more.

She’s working against the flow of pedestrians. She doesn’t wait for the cars to go by before she crosses the street. She’ll jump up and roll over the top of the cars if she needs to, and she does. She only has one destination in mind, and it's six blocks away from the police station. She hears the police sirens as she sprints down the street, narrowly avoiding the people on the sidewalks. She sends Ghost down an alleyway with Hollow. Hopefully they’ll be able to reunite at the parking garage. Right now, the police are only focused on her. 

It’s not long before she reaches the garage. As soon as she reaches it, she calls the elevator to the bottom floor. The sirens grow more and more noticeable as more and more cars surround the garage.

The doors at the bottom open, and she jams her needle in between them, keeping the doors open. She sprints up the stairs to the second floor, and calls the elevator when she hears a loudspeaker outside the parking garage.

“Walk out of the garage slowly with your hands up, or we will enter the building. We will have no choice but to defend ourselves if you fight back, so please make this simple and just give up.”

She’s panting as she sprints down the stairs again, praying that her dad wasn’t lying to her when he told her about this.

She swings the door open from the stairwell and slides back into the area where the elevator stood. Sure enough, there’s a hole in the elevator shaft, revealed by the elevator doors forced open by her needle.

So that was the good news, but the bad news was that Ghost and Hollow were nowhere to be found.

“We’re giving you a minute to come out.” The police told her. “After which we will enter and you will be forced to surrender.

She started to count down the time in her head. 50. 49. 48. 47. 46…

She placed her hand on her needle in the door. If her siblings didn’t make it in time, she didn’t want the police to find the way to Hallownest. If she made it to 1, she’d take out the needle and surrender.

  1. 14\. 13. 12. 11. 10. 9. 8–



The door to the stairwell suddenly opened, and the two of them walked out. Hornet had half a mind to ask them where the hell they came from, but she simply motioned frantically for them to jump down into the shaft.

3.

Ghost jumped down into the shaft.

2.

The Hollow Knight followed them.

1.

Hornet ducked under her needle and stood at the edge of the shaft.

0.

Roughly, she pulled the needle from the door and it slammed shut in her face. She fell backwards into the shaft, and landed on a bed of soft dirt.

It was over. They had done it.

The Hollow Knight held out their hand for her to take. She did, and she brushed herself off as she got up. She was panting, taking in everything that just happened.

Ghost was already taking off the hoodie they had over their hallownest outfit. Once they were completely out of it, they took their lumafly lantern from their satchel and held it up. It illuminated a good bit of the dark underneath of the parking garage.

Hornet spotted a pickup truck parked against the wall. She took a deep breath.

“Thank you dad.” She panted, walking towards it. She got on her stomach and crawled underneath the truck, into a small room off to the side. The Pale King was right— it did look like it ended here, but Hornet walked forward and placed her hand on the stone wall in front of her. She pushed slightly, and the wall rotated open with a crunching sound. The door in front of them now stood tall and still. The eerily familiar Hallownest seal adorned the door, and she took it in.

“We’re about to go back.” She said this more to herself than either of her siblings. The Hollow Knight stepped in behind her and closed the hidden stone door behind them.

Hornet stepped forward and held out her needle. She pricked her finger and placed the cut over the basin, and watched as a single drop of blood fell into it. When it hit the basin, nothing happened for a moment, until the seal on the doorway glowed suddenly. The door rose, revealing another shaft— except this one had a rope leading to the bottom.

Hornet sucked on her finger as she stowed her needle once again. She walked forward and took the rope in her hands before jumping in and sliding down the rope. It wasn’t long before she hit the bottom, her entire body immediately filling with warmth. 

She looked up, and for a moment, time stopped. She was really back here. This was it. This was the forgotten crossroads.

This was Hallownest.


	16. The Troupe Master

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance has a meaningful conversation with Grimm.

The Radiance had gone to visit Grimm at the beginning of the day, and was immediately met with contempt from the people in the lobby. She wasn’t allowed to enter the building without any ID or proof that someone was expecting her, so, dejectedly, she walked back to her apartment and waited until night, since flying up into the sky during the day where anyone could see her didn’t feel like a good idea.

Now, however, the whole city was under a lockdown. Someone had stirred up some trouble at the police station, and as soon as she found out it had something to do with the Hollow Knight, she kept up with everything happening. Somebody had gotten a video of Hornet standing outside the station in her authentic Hallownest garb, shouting confidently at the police to shoot at her. They did, and Hornet was able to perfectly deflect every single one of the bullets. The Radiance was impressed. She continued to watch the coverage of the escape, which told that the police followed Hornet to a parking garage near the middle of the city. The police had lost sight of the Hollow Knight before then. When they entered the parking garage, Hornet had disappeared. Ever since then, the city was locked down, while the police searched the streets for Hornet and the Hollow Knight. The Radiance figured they wouldn’t find Hornet. If she didn’t want to be found, she wouldn’t be found. She did, however, wonder if they’d be able to find the Hollow Knight. Their will wasn’t nearly as strong as Hornet’s, and they probably wouldn’t even mind if they got taken back in. 

What confused Radi the most, though, was the fact that the coverage showed that Hornet was with another person— but nobody had gotten good footage of them. They looked young, judging by their height, but other than that she had no clue who they were. Hornet didn’t like working with other people— she was entirely too independent, which made it even stranger that she was working with someone else.

Radi shook the thought from her mind. It didn’t worry her. She had something more pressing on her mind.

As soon as the sun had set and the streetlights in the city turned on, she looked outside her window at the skyline. It was about time to pay the Troupe Master a visit.

She took a deep breath and unfurled her wings. She would have just opened the window and flown out, but there’s no way her wings would be able to fit. So instead she placed her hand on the corner of the window, and felt her palm heat up. She dragged her hand up and around the outline of the window, leaving a hot streak of melted glass in its wake. The window hissed as she cut through it entirely, and pulled the glass back into the apartment. A gust of wind blew into her face as she peeked out of the window frame. It was just big enough for her to force her wings through, and spread them outside the building. She took in the cold air for a moment, before launching herself unceremoniously into the air.

She hadn’t actually flown yet in this realm. She spread her wings and they caught on the air, but her first attempt at flying wasn’t the prettiest. It took her a moment to realize what she was actually doing, before she landed on the ground. The landing wasn’t too bad, but it really only mattered that she couldn’t fly.

She let out a low growl as she got to her feet, and turned her eyes down the empty street. She began to get a running start, before jumping into the air, her wings catching. In a swift motion, she pushed herself upward, and before anyone could see her she was already in the air, soaring high above her apartment. 

She savored the feeling of the wind in her hair as she flew high above the city. For a moment, she forgot where she was going, but her blissful experience was short-lived, as she quickly passed the building she was headed towards. The disadvantage of having such a quick mode of transportation was that you didn’t have nearly as long to enjoy the ride.

She spread her wings and soared up to the top of the building, where she slowly floated down, soaring around the building like a corkscrew. She kept her eyes peeled for Grimm’s vibrantly decorated residence, which the Radiance noticed resembled his old circus-like spiel he kept up centuries ago. She never quite understood his affinity for the color red, but at this point, that was the least of her questions she had for him.

She had rotated around the building three times before she spotted his room— moodily lit with red lighting. On one of his windows, the curtains were drawn, indicating that he might have been working in there.

She wrinkled her nose at the thought.

She landed softly on one of his windowsills, and began to slowly drag her finger along the window frame. A gust of wind broke the silence when she pushed the window into the room, ruffling the curtains. She climbed into the apartment and picked up the glass, putting it back into the hole she had cut into the wall. The sharp wind flowing into the room was a little bit too loud for her liking. 

Once the window had been placed back into its frame, she looked around the room. It appeared to be some sort of living room— and she had seen it in a few of his videos. Oh, the unspeakable things she had seen done on this couch. She really didn’t like looking at it, since all she could see was the Troupe Master splayed out on the velvet—

She tore her eyes away from the couch and they landed on a door on one side of the room. That door led to the room with the closed curtains. Was he in there? She couldn’t hear anything. She wasn’t going to walk in there, on the off chance that he _was_ working. She couldn’t even imagine walking into that.

So instead she stood there in the silence. Perhaps he wasn’t in there, and if he was, he probably wasn’t working. She’d probably be able to hear something if he was doing anything erotic.

She had just begun to suspect that she was standing in an empty apartment when she heard the door handle creak open. She stiffened, looking attentively at the slowly turning doorknob. She held her breath as the door creaked open and someone peeked out from behind the door.

Grimm and the Radiance met each other’s eyes. The Radiance had long since retracted her wings, and she looked relatively unassuming. She didn’t need the sunglasses, but she had put them on anyway out of habit. Right now, she looked pretty average, disregarding her height.

“...what are you doing in my house?” Grimm asked, stepping out from behind the door frame. He was wearing a robe, which was colored red and made from velvet. He had a white fur scarf draped over his shoulders, which reached down as far as his knees. His eyes were as scarlet as ever, his pupils dilating in the light. “I mean, I might have asked someone to come and film with me today, I’m not sure, really. I got slightly drunk yesterday.”

The Radiance took a deep breath.

“Listen, I don’t know what I said yesterday, but the deal’s off.” He said, walking towards her. “Sorry. Also, I don’t know if you know, but it’s kind of polite to knock before you come into someone’s—“

“Don’t take one step closer to me.” Radi growled. Grimm raised one eyebrow.

“Is this how this is going to go?” He asked, frowning. “Am I going to have to get someone up here to drag you out?”

“If you wanted, you could probably kick me out right now.” She smiled sweetly. “Why not? I know you want to.” Her smile grew wider. “Nightmare King.”

Grimm didn’t say anything. He hid his surprise behind a veil of confusion. “I haven’t heard that title in centuries.”

“Is that so?” Radi crossed her arms. “It’s what your title should be. I’m still so utterly dumbfounded why you would decide to forget about it.”

“I haven’t forgotten about it—“ he shakes his head. “Who are you?”

“You mean you don’t recognize me?” She takes her sunglasses off nonchalantly, and places them in her pocket. “I still recognized you after all these years.”

They meet each other’s eyes again. Grimm’s jaw drops slightly. “Radi?”

She chuckles, and nods.

Grimm scoffs and walks toward her a bit more. “I can’t believe it. So you’ve decided to manifest in the mortal realm? I never would have thought you’d do that. You were always so attached to the dream realm.”

“After I was consumed by the void for centuries, I decided that making myself a vessel would be safest.”

“Of course.” He crosses his arms. “That did happen, did it not? You know, I met the vessel that did it. I must say, I’m impressed. The Pale King certainly did something right with them.”

Radi scowls. “They’re certainly one of the Pale King’s more impressive creations.”

Grimm smiles at this comment. “Well… other than being trapped within the void, what have you been up to?” He clasps his hands together. “Also… might I shake your hand? Just to, you know, make sure you’re actually physically here.”

“I have no idea what your hands have been doing.” She growls. “I’d very much like it if you didn’t touch me.”

“Fair enough.” He drums his fingers together. “So… what have you been doing?”

“Looking for you, for one.” She says. “Looking for you, Hornet, the Hollow Knight, and the Pale King.”

“The Pale King is dead.” He frowns. “And most likely, our friend Hornet just broke the Hollow Knight out of jail. Did you not see the news coverage? I was planning to go out tonight but the whole damn city’s shut up.”

Radi chuckles. “I did watch the coverage.” She places her hands behind her back. “But I’m not looking for her or the Hollow Knight anymore. I talked to the Hollow Knight, and there was nothing to tell them. And Hornet? If she doesn’t want to be found, then she won’t be found.”

Her smile grows wider. “And as for the Pale King… he isn’t dead.”

Grimm is quiet for a moment. “What do you mean? If he wasn’t dead, then why did he let his kingdom fall to you? I refuse to believe he just let that happen.”

“Oh, he hasn’t been around.” Radi sighed. “In fact, he’s been in a similar position as me. The void took out its wrath out upon him for killing millions of the void’s children. He’s been under its influence for the last century or so.”

He crossed his arms. “And how do you know this, exactly?”

“I spoke to him. He’s in a mental hospital near the edge of the city.” She jerks her head towards the window. 

Grimm uncrosses his arms and walks over to the couch to sit. “I can’t say I’m too surprised. The man is a legend.”

Radi scoffs. “Of course. Of course he is.”

They sit in silence for a moment.

“Why don’t you sit down?” Grimm motions to the couch.

“I know what has happened on that couch, Grimm.” She lets out a low growl. “I’m not touching that.”

“My apologies. I forgot that you’re incredibly picky.”

“I’m really not.” She said. “I just find the idea of sitting on a couch where you have engaged in completely ungodlike acts utterly revolting.”

“I posted that session a year ago. You really went back that far?” He chuckles.

“I didn’t enjoy it.” She hissed. “I’m shocked you’d even consider a career like this, much less actually continue on with it. Might I ask— why? You’re a king. You’re a god. Why would you do this?”

He leans back against the couch. “I don’t know if you know this, but I need devoted subjects to keep the Nightmare Heart alive and fed. In the time of Hallownest, I did so through the Grimm Troupe, and the ritual. A few centuries ago I had created a cult to fuel it. Then cults grew out of style, and I noticed that an easy way to continue with the ritual would be to make people worship me in a different way, so I went out of my way to create a fan base for myself. Now, they don’t know it, but anyone who devotes themselves to me is feeding the Nightmare heart.”

The Radiance considers this for a moment, and then sighs. “Well then. I guess that makes it slightly excusable now.”

“But just because I need to do it doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy—“

“Ah ah ah—“ she cuts him off. “Just let me think that you do this because you need to, and not because you want to.”

He rolls his eyes. “You must have sought me out for a reason.”

“I did, in fact.” She says. “I’d like to start by asking— what in Hallownest has happened here?”

“Within the last few centuries, you mean?” Grimm smirks. “Well, ever since you were banished by the void, I had left Hallownest. I had come to visit it every decade, and slowly but surely, Hallownest was sealed off. This city right here was called Dirtmouth in Hallownest’s prime. Now, this city thrives while Hallownest lies forgotten.”

The Radiance looks at the ground, and walks over to the window. “I never would have thought that I’d miss the Pale King’s architecture, but I’ll give him this— it was so much more appealing than this.”

“The city at night can be very pretty.” He shrugged. “Of course, that’s when people are actually outside on the streets and not locked up.”

“The air is so… thick. Smokey.”

“You get used to it.”

The Radiance stared out the window for another minute. “They’ve ruined the ecosystem. At least the Pale King had respect for that.”

“They’ve done plenty of good things too.” Grimm says. “Have you seen the technology? Well, clearly you have— It’s incredible. Even I didn’t know things like that were possible.”

Radi crossed her arms. “You might think that. For me… I mean, it’s terrible. I don’t want to believe my kingdom turned into this…”

“You’re acting like Hallownest doesn’t exist anymore.” Grimm mutters.

“I’d scarcely call this Hallownest.” She frowns.

“I’m not talking about the city, I’m talking about Hallownest.” Grimm rolls his eyes. He doesn’t notice that the Radiance has turned back to him.

“...what do you mean you’re talking about Hallownest?” She says skeptically.

“What? I’m talking about Hallownest. The whole kingdom you’re obsessed with?” He looks up at her. “I honestly don’t think I could be more—“

He realizes something. “Wait. You don’t know.”

“Don’t know what?”

They’re looking at each other for a moment.

“That Hallownest still exists…” he says slowly. “It still exists underneath the city.”

She blinks. “...what?”

“The Kingdom of Hallownest rests, intact, underneath this city…” he continues. “It’s in ruins, obviously, after you screwed it over, but it’s still there.”

She looks at the floor, still processing this. “Can I get there?”

“Hypothetically, yes.” He says. 

“What do you mean, hypothetically?”

He shrugs. “If someone were to hypothetically give you the entrance.”

She seems to realize what he means. “Where’s the entrance.”

“I’m inclined not to tell you.” He says. “Because I really don’t know what you plan to do once you get down there. And… I’d rather not get involved with your eternal quest for revenge.”

She takes a deep breath. “You’re really not going to tell me anything else?”

“I’ll gladly chat for a while.” He says. “But if you’re wondering if I’m going to tell you where you can get to Hallownest, the answer is no.”

She lets out a low growl, and walks over to Grimm. He looks up at her, a bored look in his eyes. “You can’t persuade me to change my mind. I know you’ve probably been able to convince a fair bit of people to give you information with a little bit of intimidation, but I’m the Nightmare King.”

“I’ll find that damn thing.” She hissed. “I don’t need your help.”

“Sure.” He smiled as she turned away from him and back toward the window. “Going already?”

“I have nothing else to speak to you about.” She goes over to a window frame that Grimm just notices is cut out along the edge.

“Did you… break my window?” He says. “I mean, I don’t know how else you would have gotten in, but you could have just opened the window.”

Suddenly, her wings unfurl from her back. Grimm’s eyes widened in surprise. “I wouldn’t have been able to get in without cutting it open.” She answers.

“Fair enough.” He watches her as she removes the window frame, and a sharp gust of wind blows into the apartment. She places the window frame on the floor, and folds her wings back to fit through the window. She meets Grimm’s eyes as she turns around on the outside of the building. He smiles at her, right before she drops off the building and flies away, growing smaller and smaller on the horizon.

Grimm sighs and goes over to the window frame on the floor. He picks it up and places it back in its frame. A lot of thoughts are going through his head, even though he did a good job of hiding it. The first, and most important one, was that he better enjoy the next few weeks as much as possible, because there was a large chance that everyone he had known within the last few decades would either be killed or mind controlled by the Radiance. He didn’t quite mind it. It meant he’d have to find another way to feed the Nightmare heart, but he’d figure it out.

As of now, he had work to do.


	17. The Nailsage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hornet, Ghost, and the Hollow Knight return to Hallownest.

All of Hornet’s senses had been heightened at the moment she dropped into Hallownest. She just wanted to take everything in. The forgotten crossroads has always been one of the more bland areas of Hallownest, but right now, it seemed more interesting than it had ever seemed. A rickety sign, held together with ropes and nails stood to her right, arrows pointing every which way on the signpost. She stood atop a raised, stone platform in the middle of a large room with two exits on either side. One led to the Black Egg Temple, she recalled, and the other led to a tall shaft which then led to Greenpath.

The room was relatively barren, except for a few bugs skittering around on the floor. She heard Ghost land quietly behind her, and then the Hollow Knight, who landed roughly on their knees. She looked back at them, still taking in all of the room.

The three of them stood there for a while, drinking in the scenery. Hornet noticed a few areas of infection near the walls and the ceiling, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as it was during the height of the Radiance’s influence, right before she helped Ghost defeat her.

She looked over towards the exit to Greenpath, and held out her hand to Ghost. She felt a piece of paper being dropped into her hands and she took it and opened it.

Her immediate urge was to go return to Greenpath, since that’s always been her favorite place in Hallownest, but she knew the best idea would be to first find the remaining uninfected citizens of Hallownest. But it wouldn’t hurt to go revisit it, would it?

She tucked away the map into her pocket, and motioned for her siblings to follow her. Ghost kept up with her, but the Hollow Knight was slow. They got faster as she walked on, but they kept having to use a unique ability of theirs, something they learned training from the Pale King— a short-distance teleport.

Pilgrim's Way was about the same as Hornet remembered it— but all of the infected animals had almost disappeared. Occasionally she’d come across the random vengefly, but they were so docile that she didn’t need to take them down. 

When they got to the first bench in Greenpath, Hornet told the Hollow Knight and Ghost to stay there unless they wanted to come with her into Greenpath. Considering both their lack of an ability to “want” anything, she left them there. She’d come back to them, obviously, but she wanted, just for a moment, to see a good bit of Greenpath again.

Greenpath was relatively the same as she remembered it, but once again, there was a sad lack of animals in the area. It meant less reminders of the Radiance and the infection, which was good, but it felt so barren and unwelcoming. The air was moist and the greenery was lush and colorful, but it didn’t feel right without the sounds of squits and mosskin around every corner. Most of the time it was disturbingly quiet. She didn’t know if they had all gone into hiding, or if they had just all disappeared. She hoped it wasn’t the latter.

Other than that, however, she was pleased that the plants and lush greenery in this area of Hallownest hadn’t vanished. She zipped through Greenpath for a while, appreciating all of the plant life that was so lacking in the city above. The air was cleaner down here, she noticed, and fresher. She couldn’t smell smoke, or a fresh layer of industry on top of it. Nature had taken back everything that was built near here, and she appreciated it greatly.

She found herself in the Stag Station after taking in nearly half of Greenpath: the bell was still hanging there, and the bench was overgrown with moss. Vines creeped up the walls around her, and hung from the ceiling in thick coils. The gate to the Stag station was open, but she didn’t ring the bell, despite being slightly curious if someone or something would actually answer. She didn’t want to disturb anyone, and she had no need of a stag right now.

Still, standing here made her nostalgic of Hallownest’s old architecture. She had forgotten how much she enjoyed it compared to the human’s structures. She walked around the station for a moment, until she decided to return to her siblings. She was wondering how the Hollow Knight was faring. Unlike Ghost, she knew that the Hollow Knight wasn’t completely Hollow, which is why their eyes weren’t entirely dark, and also because they couldn’t contain the Radiance. They had probably been exploring the idea of thought during their time in that city, but she wasn’t sure how far they were. As far as she knew, they still couldn’t speak, but they were clearly capable of some emotion. 

The two vessels were still there when she returned. Ghost was looking at their map, which was folded out on their lap. They looked up at Hornet as she walked over, maintaining eye contact as she stopped in front of them.

“What is it?”

Ghost pointed at the map, to an area in the lower right of the forgotten crossroads. There was a marker there signifying a shopkeeper, and another marker slightly to the right of it for a Stag Station.

“What about that?” Hornet asked.

Ghost then pointed to the bench they were at now, and dragged their finger across the map to land on that area again.

“Why should we go there?”

Ghost simply looked at her.

“You think there’s people there?”

They nodded.

She grabbed the map out of their hands and held it up. “It’s a lead, I suppose.” she folded it up into her pocket and motioned for them to follow her. 

This time they went through the lower half of the forgotten crossroads, which was surprisingly less barren than Greenpath. The Goams that once inhabited the area were still there, and there were a few more vengeflies amidst them. Ghost’s abilities that they hadn’t used for a very long time started to come in handy here-- their shade cloak especially. Not to mention that Hornet hadn’t seen them use their Monarch wings since before the Radiance’s downfall. 

The Hollow Knight started to get a little bit faster too. Hornet noticed they had become somewhat fascinated by the setting, and they stood slightly less hunched over. It was comforting to her, to know that at least they weren’t suffering being back here.

There wasn’t anything physical to tell them this, but Hornet could feel the atmosphere getting more welcoming for each step towards their destination. She took it as a good sign, but she got more cautious too, just in case there were people there, and they were infected.

After a while, they reached the area they sought. The three of them stood upon a platform, raised above a large room lined with stone. Hornet could see a small hut atop a raised platform at the edge of the room, and an exit above that, but everything else stood under their platform.

Hornet dropped down onto the floor. She looked around, her eyes settling on each of the small houses in what looked like a village that had been abandoned, and then reclaimed. Each of the residences had light emanating from each of their windows, showing that this was, in fact, inhabited by someone. 

She looked back behind her at the elevated hut, which also had light inside, but also a chimney which seemed to produce water vapor.

Ghost and Hollow landed on the ground next to her, looking around. Nobody was out in this town, it seemed like everyone was inside resting. Normally Hornet wouldn’t have woken anyone up, but her curiosity got the better of her and she walked up to one of the buildings-- one of the bigger ones, and knocked on the door.

“We’re open, come in.” Answered a quiet voice from inside. It was strangely high pitched, but it didn’t belong to a woman. She opened the door and walked inside, looking around the room. She motioned for Ghost and Hollow to stay outside.

The room was small, and relatively cozy. A small man stood behind the counter, perhaps slightly older than how the Pale King looked. He was pale, and wore his dark hair in a tight bun, with two antennae protruding from his scalp. He wore a long cloak with a very fluffy collar, but perhaps his most prominent feature were his glasses, which magnified his eyes to an incredible size. Hornet ran her fingers through her hair, suddenly considering manifesting her horns she used to dawn in Hallownest’s prime.

“Hello.” He looked over to Hornet, and he furrowed his eyebrows. “I’ve never seen you before. Although… there’s a certain familiarity about you.” he shakes his head. “Nevermind that. I’m Sly, and I run this shop. Can I ask what you’re looking for?”

Hornet placed her hands together. “Actually, I’d rather talk.”

He raises an eyebrow. “Talk? I mean, I suppose I’m not doing anything else.” He gestures to a chair in one corner of the room, next to a tall shelf which Hornet sits at. “Do you have something in mind that you’d like to talk about?”

“Oh, plenty.” Hornet starts. “First of all, I’d like to say that I came from above… this village. I don’t know if you know, but at the very top of this area, there’s a door that--”

“Of course I know.” He says, smiling suddenly. “I’m the one who fixes that damned elevator every time it breaks. For a while I didn’t think it was worth it, but now… I see it wasn’t an entire waste.”

Hornet is surprised by this. “You know there’s a city up there?”

“Of course.” He places his hand on chin. “Although, one might ask how you managed to get down here. You can only get down here if you’re originally from Hallownest, and everyone I know is still down here.”

“I am from Hallownest.” Hornet says. “My name is Hornet.”

Sly lets his hand fall on the table, and his eyes go slightly wider. “Hornet? The Princess of Deepnest?”

“Yes.” she nods. “How do you know who I am?”

“Well, you’re a legend.” He says simply. “After all, you vanquished the Radiance.”

“That was my sibling.”

“Well yes, but you played a role in that.” He sighs. “It’s a shame they had to go, the vessel that did the job. They were my best customer, and they were a nailmaster. Really, an incredible being.”

Hornet takes this in for a moment. “You knew Ghost?”

“Is that what you call them?” He smiles. “Yes, I did.”

“...But they’ve been dead for centuries.”

“Well, it’s certainly been long, but I wouldn’t call it centuries.” he waves.

She looks at him. “It’s definitely been centuries.”

Sly meets her eyes. “Oh. You might not know this, but time works differently around here. At least, differently from up there.” he takes off his glasses and cleans them with his cloak. “It’s faster, certainly, but also people from Hallownest have longer lifespans than humans, so it makes everything seem shorter. But it’s more complicated than that. When someone crosses the door to Hallownest, the rate of time progression in Hallownest gets slightly synced up with the time in that city. It’s hard to explain.”

Hornet thinks about this for a moment. “So how long would you say it’s been since the Radiance’s influence disappeared?”

“I wouldn’t say it disappeared.” he sighs. “More just… receded. And I can’t quite tell you. The absence of night and day makes it more difficult to tell time down here.”

Hornet crosses her arms and takes this in. “Might I ask you what happened to dirtmouth?”

“I thought you might know that.” Sly muses. “I used to live there, you might know. Then more and more outsiders started coming in and expanding it, so I moved down here, and sealed off the well to the forgotten crossroads. I brought a few other people down from Dirtmouth down with me too. A few people moved in too. My pupil Mato came down here when the Howling cliffs were flattened. Occasionally a relic collector named Lemm will come and stay around here when he gets lonely in the City of Tears.”

“Do you know anyone else around Hallownest?”

Sly takes another deep breath and leans against the counter. “My other pupil, Oro, went to the bottom of Kingdom’s Edge the last time we spoke. I don’t know if he’s still there, but there’s him… and my last pupil, Sheo, went to live in Greenpath away from everyone, at the end of a painstakingly annoying tunnel filled with brambles. Still don’t know if he’s still there, but he’s more consistent than Oro, so I’d place a bigger bet on him.”

Hornet doesn’t say anything for a moment, and just looks around the room. There’s a trapdoor behind the counter, and a huge sword, almost twice the size of Sly leaning against the wall. She thinks about this for a second.

“What did you come back down to Hallownest for?” He asks her.

“I was about to mention that.” she says. “We stirred up some trouble in the city. I… broke the Hollow Knight out of prison. It’s a long story.”

Sly looks intrigued. “The Hollow Knight? They’re still alive?”

“Yes, I was surprised too.” She stands up. “In fact, they’re here right now. I needed a place to keep them so that the police wouldn’t find them.”

“...Really?” Sly stands straight up again, and hops over the counter with surprising agility. He opens the door, and looks out at Ghost and Hollow, who are still just standing there awkwardly. They both look at him, Hollow somewhat confused about what’s going on.

Sly and Ghost make eye contact, and Sly is rather surprised. “Hornet? I thought you said the vessel was dead.”

“They were.” Hornet emerges from the shop. “I found them not too long ago up in the city. I wasn’t sure why until a few days ago.”

Sly walks over to Ghost, and they’re about the same height. “The last time I saw you, you had horns.”

Ghost looks upward, and in a quick flash of light, they suddenly have two curved horns on their head, exactly like they did centuries ago. Hornet decides to do the same in that moment, and her horns return to her head. And Hollow, not wanting to be left out, does the same.

Sly turns to Hornet. “That was impressive.”

“They draw attention to us up there.” she says. “Obviously.”

“Of course.” Sly turns his head to the Hollow Knight, looking up at their towering figure. “The Hollow Knight. To be honest, I expected something more grand. The statues of them always look so heroic.”

“That’s what an eternity under the Radiance’s influence will do to you.” Hornet walks toward her sibling, and grabs their hand in hers. “Me and Ghost are probably going to return to the heart of Hallownest. We’re probably going to try to restore some of their memories. I’m hoping that you might let the Hollow Knight stay here while we’re gone.”

Sly purses his lips, and wraps his cloak tighter around himself. “I… would. I mean, I can, but… is there any way that…” his eyes flit up towards Hollow’s infected eye. “ _That_ could transfer to me? At all?”

Hornet looks up at Hollow. “Hollow?”

They don’t say anything.

“See, I don’t have the greatest track record with avoiding the infection.” Sly says. “And… it’s been getting stronger around here, I don’t know if you’ve noticed. It’s gotten pretty bad earlier.”

“That makes sense.” Hornet mutters. “The Radiance is back, this time in a physical form.”

Sly doesn’t react. “I suspected it.” He sighs. “A physical form, you say? You mean…”

“Similar to how the Nightmare King manifested himself through the Troupe Master.” Hornet answers. “I don’t know. I don’t know if hanging around the Hollow Knight would cause the infection to possibly transfer to you.”

Sly crosses his arms. “I’m sorry, but I don’t want to risk it.”

“I understand.” Hornet mutters. “Hollow… I don’t want you to feel like you need to follow us, but I don’t really know a place where you can stay.”

“I… can come.” Hollow spoke suddenly, for the first time in front of Hornet. Her neck snaps towards them, shocked.

“You can speak?”

They nod.

“Since when?”

Hollow looks at their hands. “...since her.”

She takes this in. “You could speak… all the way back since you were infected?”

“Kinda.” They say. Their voice was deliberate, but it looked like it took them a great deal of effort to say the words. It was low and quiet, and it didn’t sound like anyone else’s voice. Hornet suspected it was because this was their voice, and nobody was speaking for them. Perhaps they were much less hollow than she thought they were.

“You’re fine with coming?” Hornet asked.

They nodded.

“If you’re planning on heading to Greenpath…” Sly chimed in, placing his hands around his cloak, “then I advise going up and taking the stag.”

Hornet looked back at him. “The stag… is still there?”

“Yeah.” He replies. “He’s been assisting us with travel ever since the Radiance was defeated. He says it's what the little vessel would have wanted.”

Hornet looks at Ghost, who hasn’t done anything for a while. “I wouldn’t say ‘wanted’... but probably appreciated.” She turns back to Sly. “Thanks for the help.”

“No problem.” He says. “I mean, I’d probably be signing my own death warrant by not helping you, so…”

Hornet gestures to her siblings, and they walk to her side. “If we’re lucky I might see you again, you know, uninfected.”

“One can hope.” Sly turns toward his house. “Good luck.”

The three of them head up to the Crossroads stag station. This one wasn’t overgrown with plants like the Greenpath station, but it still looked equally abandoned. Hornet removed her needle and rang the rickety bell, and waited for a moment until she could hear rumbling steps from the tunnel.

The Last Stag emerged from the tunnel and slowed at the entrance. The stags were large, sentient beasts that the Pale King had hired as transportation in Hallownest’s prime. They had all disappeared during the infection, save for one, which had transported Ghost around in their time.

The beast looked around and their small eyes met Hornet’s. “Is that you? Princess of Hallownest?”

“Yeah.” Hornet walked toward them. “It’s certainly been a while, hasn’t it?”

The stag looked over at Ghost and the Hollow Knight. They didn’t respond, seemingly too shocked to say anything.

“Can you get us to Greenpath?” Hornet asked after a moment.

“...Of course!” He replied. “I thought… I thought they had died! The little one there.”

“They did.” Hornet muttered. “But they’ve returned. It’s a long story.”

The Stag doesn’t move for a moment. “I can take you to Greenpath, but the bigger one has to wait.”

“Of course.” Hornet nodded, and motions to Ghost. The two of them get onto the stag, and they get settled before they start moving quickly into the tunnel.

It’s only a second before they’re plunged into darkness. 


	18. The Tension

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Franklin calls the police on the Radiance.

Franklin couldn’t sleep at night with the thought that the Radiance was still out there, and she hadn’t paid for what she did to him. He couldn’t stop thinking about her, and it wasn’t until today he realized that he wasn’t going to be able to rest until he saw her locked in prison. 

He had promised her that he wouldn’t say anything to anyone about their short alliance, but that promise seemed to become less and less important with every passing second. What became more and more important was the fact that he wanted nothing more than to see that she was incapacitated, and no longer a threat to anyone. He had returned to his own apartment, but hadn’t seen anyone since she let him go. He hadn’t been at work for longer than a week, but right now that wasn’t what worried him. He felt it was his duty to call the police on her, just to tell them that she was a danger to everyone who passed her, but a lingering fear kept him from doing so. She was always scarier in person, and whenever he left her alone he could feel his confidence returning to him. Right now, his confidence was as high as it had been before he was abducted by her, but he knew he would never be the same after that.

He got up off of his couch that morning after watching a recap of this break in that had happened two days ago. They had still locked down everyone near the parking garage where the girl had disappeared, but the city was starting to open up again. Perhaps it meant that he could finally call the police and they’d be able to arrest the Radiance-- he knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they were the police-- they weren’t going to just lose to one woman.

The thought quickly came to him that the police _had_ just lost to one woman-- or at least, they had let her escape. Franklin shuttered. This time, he’d make sure the police wouldn’t underestimate this woman.

He stood at the phone, and picked it up. He dialed the number for the local police station-- and waited. The first thing he heard was that they were experiencing heavy phone traffic-- which was expected, considering a decent portion of people were in lockdown. He brought the phone over to the couch and sat there for what seemed like hours, until someone finally picked up.

He scrambled with the phone as soon as he heard someone’s voice on the other end. He had barely heard what they had just said-- only “how can I help you?”

“Yes, this is Mister Fra--” he cut himself off, wondering whether he should actually introduce himself or not. He didn’t want the Radiance finding out he had reported her, on the off chance that the police officers actually decided to go after her. “I’d actually like to remain anonymous here.”

“That might be possible-- it depends what you want.”

“Well, there’s this woman who’s taken up a temporary residence at 2709 Vanidy place, and…” he didn’t want to say anything that might give the Radiance an idea of who sent them the message. “She’s been acting suspicious.”

There’s a silence on the other line. “...how? And how do you know the exact apartment number?”

He didn’t say anything. There wasn't really anything he could accuse her of that didn’t include explicit details of what he knew about her and what she had done to him. “Uh…. I… you can’t tell her this, but she…” he stopped, and realized something. “She doesn’t even own the place. She killed the owner of the apartment and the body is in there.”

“How do you know this?”

Now he’d definitely have to tell the woman on the other line about what happened to him. “She abducted me and made me serve her, but don’t tell her I said that. She can’t know that I was the one who said this.”

“We can keep your name anonymous, sir.”

“No, you don’t understand. She can’t even know what you’re arresting her for, because she’ll know immediately that I was the one who told.”

“...I don’t think we’d be able to force our way into the apartment without any reason. We’d need to tell her the charges once we have her incapacitated.”

“Well, you can tell her them then, just don’t tell her before you have her.” Franklin says. “I mean, I’d rather you not tell her why at all, because I really don’t want to risk it.”

There’s a long silence on the other line. He can hear some shuffling papers. “Listen… we have a lot on our hands right now. If you’re lucky we might send a small team over there tomorrow, since this break in is our top priority right now. We’ll call you back when we’ve made a decision.”

“But…” he stammers, his grip on the phone tightening. “You don’t understand. She’s really dangerous and she needs to be stopped now. Don’t send just a small team. I don’t know the full extent of what she can do but she’s--”

“Sir, I understand you’re worried, but we’re really busy. There’s plenty of other people trying to reach us right now and I have to get back to them. Just wait patiently until we call you back.”

“But--”

The line went dead.

He spent the entire rest of the day sitting on the couch, pacing back and forth, and looking in the fridge for something to eat. He was starting to second guess calling the police. What if they did go to her, and she overpowered them, figured out who had called them, and then found him? What if they didn’t do anything and they just thought he was crazy? He was almost hoping for the latter at this point. 

All he wanted was to stay alive.

He was looking in the fridge again when he heard the phone ring that night. He slammed the door shut and ran over to the phone, picking it up frantically and holding it to his ear.

“Yes?”

“Hello… we’re calling regarding a matter you reported earlier today about a woman at 2709 Vanidy Place, is that correct?”

“Yeah, that was me.”

“We’re sending a team there early morning tomorrow. We figured you might want to know.” the man on the other line said in a monotone voice.

Franklin didn’t know how to respond to this. “Good. Great.”

“Have a good day sir,” was all that he heard on the other line before it went dead. He was staring straight forward, wondering what in the world was going to happen now. All he could see was the Radiance’s face, her beautifully unblemished skin and flowing hair, all marred by a sinister smile and inhuman eyes.

She felt uncomfortably real.

…

Earlier in the day, when Franklin had dialed the police station number onto his cordless phone, the Radiance stood alone, across the city in her apartment. She was staring out the window, pondering a whole slew of things. Her first question was, where had Hornet gone? She had disappeared, yes, but it was a miracle she hadn’t been found yet. The Radiance wasn’t surprised she hadn’t been found, but she was surprised the Hollow Knight wasn’t found. She wondered, second, where the entrance to Hallownest was. She knew it was futile to search for the entrance herself, when it could be anywhere in the entire city. 

And third… Who was the child that Hornet had escaped with that day?

She had pondered these questions for a whole day now, and hadn’t gotten anywhere. It had occurred to her that Hornet could have escaped into Hallownest some way, but there’s no one who could have told her where the entrance was, unless she somehow had visited Grimm, which didn’t make a whole lot of sense, since Grimm didn’t mention anything to do with her. If that was true, though, it meant that the entrance was somewhere near that parking garage she disappeared near. The only problem with that was that the garage was now being guarded as if it was a sacred temple. Perhaps she would wait a day to go investigate it.

In the meantime, she felt her power growing, slowly but surely, every day. With every breath, she could feel her heart pulsing rhythmically in her chest. She could manifest pure light energy within her palms, and she could feel the warmth radiating from her and all around her. 

It was only a matter of time…

…

Grimm had spent a lot of time pacing his apartment yesterday, and he was doing just the same today. He liked looking out upon the skyline, because he wasn’t sure how long it would last. He wanted to start saying his goodbyes, mostly from his colleagues in the industry, but he didn’t really know where to start. His identity as the Nightmare King had become dearer to him ever since the Radiance visited him, and he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps because it _was_ really who he truly was, and after the Radiance wiped out this whole city it was the only thing that would define him.

He didn’t like thinking about that inevitable day when the Radiance might take over this entire city. He knew it was coming, and he accepted it, but he didn’t like it. He knew he should probably be on her side, seeing as he was something of a brother to her, but he had grown attached to people who weren’t zombified. He even helped the Pale King a little during Hallownest’s prime. But now there wasn’t anything he could do.

He was sitting on his couch, fiddling with the corner of the velvet blanket, when he heard the phone ring. He got up reluctantly and walked over to it, grabbing it off the wall and immediately walking back to the couch.

“What’s up?”

“Mister Grimm?” It was Victor, the man who had told the Radiance where Grimm lived, but it’s not like he knew that.

“Grimm is just fine.” He replied, yanking the blanket over his lap. “That’s really my name. I’ll just stick to that for the foreseeable future.”

Victor doesn’t say anything for a moment. “Okay… anyway, I’m really sorry, and I’ll have you know that I didn’t have a choice, but there might be a woman visiting you soon, and I’m not sure who she--”

Grimm started to laugh. “Oh, you were the one she got the information from?” He put the phone on speaker and placed it next to him. “Don’t be sorry. She’s an old friend of mine.”

“...What kind of people do you make friends with?”

Grimm clicked his tongue. “Good question. I have a better one though-- how’d she manage to find you?”

“It was pretty simple, actually.” He mutters. “She came up to me in the strip club and acted like she was new in the business. I invited her to a session with me so that she could get some more popularity. Then she pulled out a goddamn sword on me and threatened to slash my face if I didn’t tell her your address.”

Grimm smiles at this, and then starts to laugh. “You’re telling me the Radiance pretended to be a stripper just to get to me?”

“I mean… yes.”

“Oh, and she was making fun of me for my career choice.” Grimm rolled his eyes to himself. “But Victor… don’t you know better than to just trust anyone in a shady club?”

“It wasn’t a shady club.” he replies. “Besides… She was really enticing. Like… unnaturally enticing. Now that I think about it, she was really strange…” he breaks off. “What did you say her name was again?”

“Well, I know her as the Radiance.” Grimm placed his hands behind his back. “The god of light and dreams.”

“...What?”

“I might have skipped over something.” Grimm breathes in through his nose. “She’s somewhat of a sister to me. I might not look like it, but I’m actually thousands of years old, and so is she. We’re both immortal beings, and somewhat of a complement to each other.”

There’s silence on the other line. “You’re an immortal deity?”

“Yes.” Grimm says. “As a matter of fact, I’m the god of Nightmares.”

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?”

“Trust.” Grimm says. “You know me. I’d never tell such an asinine lie. Besides, do you really think I’d wear contacts a hundred percent of the time? My eyes are all natural, baby.”

“...why are you telling me this?”

“Oh….” he sighs. “It’s only a matter of time before everyone will know that this city isn’t what it seems to be.” Grimm infers from the silence that Victor doesn’t understand what he means. “In a nutshell, the Radiance will probably wipe out this whole city pretty soon. You should count yourself lucky she spared you. She’s not a merciful god.”

“She doesn’t seem like a god of light or dreams.”

“Reality is often unlike fiction.” Grimm sighs. “You know how they always portray darkness as chaotic, and light as peaceful, hmm?”

“Yeah.”

“Well…” Grimm rolled back his shoulders. “Light is violent and blinding. It always has been. And darkness? It’s silent and unmoving, at least when it’s calm.”

Victor doesn’t respond to this.

“And Nightmares are just dreams, aren’t they? They’re just dreams that we fear because we don’t understand them.”

“...I’ve never thought of it that way.”

“People often don’t.” he sighs. “...Victor… I like you. You’ve always been calm under pressure, and you’re never disappointed. I admire you, really.”

“Thank you.” Victor replies, surprised.

“And that’s why I want you to know this.” Grimm sits up straighter. “Just so you know… if you want to get through this, try to resist. Try to resist the Radiance’s pull. You’ll know it when you feel it. Maybe if you manage to hold out you can exist without becoming a slave to her.”

He doesn’t say anything.

“I advise taking a long break if you need one. I reckon that in a week or so nobody will remember this day. Nobody will care what you did. All I know is that something huge is going to go down. Something that hasn’t happened in centuries. And you’re here for it, so count yourself lucky.”

Neither of them speak for a minute.

“I’m still trying to process this.” Victor says.

“Understandable.” Grimm nods. 

“Why don’t you do something about it?”

Grimm takes a deep breath. “This whole thing… this whole conflict between the Radiance and someone known as the Pale King… it goes way back. I can’t really interfere with it. I can simply watch. Besides, even if I could do something, I’m not strong enough to take on the Radiance. She’s getting more powerful every day, and I’m still the same as I was centuries ago.”

“Why don’t you tell other people about this?”

He chuckles. “Nobody can take her on, at least as far as I know. Reporting her would only cause premature deaths. The only people who even stand a chance against her are the old legendary figures of Hallownest, like Hornet or the Pale King. But even they couldn’t take her. The only person I know who could ever vanquish her is a small vessel I knew centuries ago, and they died after doing so.”

He can hear Victor’s labored breathing on the other end. “So there’s no hope?”

“Typically I like to be an optimist,” Grimm says. “But in this case… I’d learn to accept it.”

“Accept that we’re all going to die?”

“You won’t die, per say. Your mind will be corrupted by her influence. I don’t know what that feels like, but I know it’s possible to resist it if you try. The stronger your will is, the easier it is for you to resist her influence.”

He remains surprisingly calm after hearing all this.

“All I can say is to keep your will strong.”


	19. The Happy Couple

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings speak to the Nailsmith and the Nailmaster regarding the state of Hallownest.

Hornet breathed in the sensation of the stag galloping in the darkness. She felt the cool air rush past her ears and ruffle her hair with every step. It reminded her slightly of the motorcycle she used on the surface, but it was so much more lively. She liked the darkness now, and the silence that was only broken by the bated breathing and the falling footsteps of the old Stag.

It didn’t feel too long before they reached the Greenpath stag station. Ghost and Hornet hopped off and thanked the Stag as they trampled off back down the tunnel for the Hollow Knight. Hornet looked back around the stag station, and then to Ghost, who had walked over to the bench and took out their map. Hornet walked over and sat down next to them, looking over the section of Greenpath. There was nothing labeled on the map about Nailmaster Sheo’s residence, but she did recall that Sly said he had set up his hut at the end of a spiked tunnel. There was one right below the Stag station which led to a small area with a bench pin, and she figured that was their destination. 

The Stag returned a few minutes later with the Hollow Knight on their back. They looked immensely tired from carrying them on their back. The knight slipped off the saddle and landed roughly on the floor next to Hornet. She had walked over next to the stag and made eye contact with him.

“They were very heavy for my old bones…” he says. “I don’t think I’d be able to take them any farther distances.”

“Don’t worry, I won’t make you.” Hornet smiled. “See you later.”

“Good luck, princess.” The stag bowed his head to her as she motioned for the two vessels to follow her.

Hornet led them down this grassy shaft to the tunnel filled with bramble underneath them. Her and Ghost were graceful in their descent, but Hollow was clunkier, slowly making their way down the shaft. They were really tall and lanky, and they had been agile in another time, but the Radiance had beaten down their mind so much that their once swift movement had been slowed immensely.

Ghost, however, was extremely agile. Almost as agile as Hornet. It was like they remembered the layout of this area, as a matter of fact. Hornet watched them with intrigue, as they dashed and slid and flipped their way down to the bottom. 

They went to the left when they reached the bottom, towards the spiny tunnel. Hornet wondered how they would manage to get through the spike tunnel, especially Hollow, but there was a small passageway above the bramble that had been revealed. The three of them climbed up into it and walked for what felt like quite a while, until the passage was cut off and led downward to where the bramble tunnel ended. The tunnel led into a decently sized area filled with bramble, where a hut stood on a grassy elevated overhang. She could see a bench up there looking down upon them next to the hut, the one that was marked on the map.

Hornet looked over to Ghost and grabbed their collar. She threw her needle up onto the overhang and anchored it there, and pulled the two of them up onto the grass above with her spider silk. Hollow was close enough to teleport to the overhang. Them and Ghost sat on the bench outside. Hornet turned towards the hut, and walked to the door, poising her hand above the door. She couldn’t hear anything or anyone inside, but she knocked anyway, and waited.

She suddenly heard someone move inside, and the door creaked open. A large man stood in the doorway— he was as tall as the Hollow Knight, but he was much less lanky or thin. In fact, he looked rather built, but he was wearing an artist’s smock, and his hands were delicately held in front of him, stained with paint. He wore a purple band around his head, which held in place his white horns. He had a nicely trimmed, Snow White beard and he appeared to be almost friendly, despite his height.

“Hello, little one.” He said. Hornet would have taken offense to being called this, but his tone was so calm and soothing that she let it slide. “How did you get here? This place isn’t easy to reach.”

“I came because I was looking for you. Aren’t you Nailmaster Sheo?” She asked politely.

He raised his eyebrows. “Yes… who are you?”

“Oh, Hornet. Daughter of Herrah and the Pale King, and the princess of Deepnest.” She held out her hand for him to take, but instead he gasped softly and got to his knees in respect.

“Oh, sorry— It’s an honor, princess.” Sheo looks up at her, his eyes filled with admiration.

“It’s nothing, really. You don’t need to do that.” Sheo stood up again, and looked around outside. He spotted the two vessels sitting on the bench, and his eyes widened.

“Is that…” Sheo trails off, staring at them. “My student?”

Hornet looked back at Ghost.

“Oh, where are my manners? Please, come in.” Sheo opened the door to the hut and stepped out of the way. “The two of them can come in too.”

Hornet nodded in thanks and stepped inside the hut. It was relatively cozy, and dimly lit, with curtains draped over the walls. Paintings hung on the walls and lay stacked on the floor, the entirety of the room feeling like a true artisan’s workspace.

“Niall, we have visitors.” Sheo spoke softly from the doorway as Hornet entered the room. Hornet hadn’t even noticed the other man at the table in the corner. This one was older than Sheo, but with about the same build. He wore a dark blue cloak and he had a large white beard with dark skin. He looked about as kind-hearted as Sheo, but it was clear he had lived through more.

“I see.” He replied, looking up at Sheo and then at Hornet. She got a look at his hands, which were carefully placed upon a clay sculpture. They were calloused from years and years of work.

Sheo gestured to a chair that Hornet could sit at as he turned to Ghost and kneeled in front of them. “My student… I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

The man at the table looked toward Ghost then, and Hornet could see him raise his eyebrows at them. “The little one looks...familiar...”

“They’re the vessel who vanquished the Radiance long ago.” Hornet answered. “Maybe you met them.”

Ghost walked over to Hornet and sat next to her on the floor. The floor had been covered with carpet and pillows, and it was rather comfortable. The chair Hornet sat on sat low to the ground and she was less than a foot taller than the Hollow Knight when they sat down next to her.

Sheo closed the door and walked over to where they all sat. “What have you come to us for?”

Sheo sat next to Niall, the older man at the table, and clasped his hands together as he settled into his chair.

“We came from a settlement in the Forgotten Crossroads where I met your old Master Sly.” Hornet started. “I’m looking for someone who might know something more about how Hallownest’s doing since the Radiance was defeated.”

“We haven’t really traveled much since then.” Sheo began. “As far as we know, everything below the forgotten crossroads and Dirtmouth is the same as it was then. The Howling Cliffs and most of the Crystal Peak were flattened to expand Dirtmouth, but that’s about all I know.”

Hornet nodded. “Do you know what it’s like above ground now?”

“No.” Sheo replied. “I haven’t been up there in forever.”

“It’s a city.” She says. “It’s huge. I thought it was the only part of Hallownest until someone told me that the Kingdom was still intact underneath.”

He’s quiet for a moment.

“Who are they?” Niall asks, looking toward the Hollow Knight.

“The Hollow Knight.” Hornet answers. “We’ve been traveling together for a bit. We had to break them out of a prison above ground and we went below to evade the police. It’s been really long, though, since they—“ she gestures towards Ghost, “—set him free from her influence.”

“The Hollow Knight?” Sheo repeats. “It’s an honor. We have a lot to thank you for.”

Hollow looks down at the floor, their eyes hooded. They look ashamed.

“I know them.” Niall says suddenly, looking at Ghost. “Sheo… they’re the one who I made the pure nail for. They were the one that refused to kill me.”

Hornet looked at her sibling. They looked content, staring at Niall.

“Wait… how do you know them?” Hornet asked him.

“In a previous life, I was a nailsmith. My goal was only to forge the perfect nail, and I did, for them. I had asked them to strike me down in my final moments, but they didn’t. So I started to search for a new calling, and that’s when I met Sheo…” Niall looks at Sheo and they make eye contact. The two of them share an intimate look and they interlock hands.

“The little one was my student.” Sheo continued. “I taught them the Great Slash, and soon they became a Nailmaster.” He smiles longingly. “But really I’m most thankful for them because without them, I would have never met Niall.”

Hornet can’t help but smile at the two of them. They looked so happy together. Perhaps if she managed to get rid of the Radiance a second time in a row she’d start looking for someone to spend her time with.

“I have a few things to ask you.” Hornet began. “I’m planning on heading down to the Abyss with Ghost. Do you think you can house the Hollow Knight while we’re away?”

Sheo and the Nailsmith look towards Hollow. “Sure.”

“I might want to add that they’re still partly influenced by the Radiance.” Hornet continued. “And I’m not sure if a decently long exposure to them would cause the infection to spread.”

“We should be okay.” Sheo reassured. “The two of us lived through the Radiance’s reign over Hallownest before the little one ended it.”

“Okay, thanks.” Hornet then turned to the nailsmith. “I know you're done with forging weapons, and I understand if you don’t want to, but I would be incredibly grateful if you were able to forge a new nail for the Hollow Knight. They need something to protect themself when we return to the surface.”

Niall looks down at the table, and then to Sheo again. “I could do that. It’s been a while, though. The quality won’t be on par with the little one’s old nail.”

“That’s okay. They really just need something.” Hornet takes a deep breath. “Thank you, both of you.”

“Before you head off, you could have some food.” Sheo adds before Hornet can decide to leave.

Hornet didn’t want to turn down this hospitality, but her and Ghost really ought to leave as soon as possible. She would have turned it down if she didn’t realize that the food they had was native to Hallownest, and she suddenly felt hungry for something other than the food from above.

“I’d be happy to.”

…

Hornet and Ghost left after they had eaten together. Hornet had enjoyed talking to Sheo and the nailsmith, since they actually had things to talk about. She thoroughly enjoyed the food too. It was fresh and well cooked— apparently Sheo wasn’t just a good artist. 

Hornet had learned from Sheo that the best way to get to the Abyss was to go on foot, through the fungal wastes, down the City of Tears and the Royal Waterways, through the Ancient Basin, all the way down to the Abyss. Sheo didn’t know if the Stag Station down in the Ancient Basin was still operating, but there were a few of the Stations that had caved in after the Howling cliffs were flattened, and he wasn’t sure if that was one of them that had caved.

Besides, Hornet wanted to explore more of Hallownest, since she hadn’t seen it in centuries. She wondered if much had changed since the last time she was here. It didn’t seem like it had been too long for anyone else down here, but for Hornet, it was forever. Perhaps not a lot had changed, but Hornet was desperate for a reminder of her past.

She led Ghost across the passageway above the tunnel, and then through the rest of Greenpath. On their way down to fog canyon, Hornet noticed a few more animals-- definitely more than she had seen on the way there. She wasn’t quite sure why there was such a stark difference in the amount of living creatures now, but she started to feel much more comfortable.

The transition to Fog Canyon was nonexistent. You simply started in Greenpath, and found yourself in fog canyon without much of an area connecting them. The atmosphere in the canyon was extremely different from Greenpath-- in Greenpath, you could hear a constant buzz of life within the walls, even when you couldn’t see it. In Fog Canyon, the sounds were suppressed by a thick fog, which you could see through, but it still had the hot and heavy feeling of the fog on the surface. Clusters of floating Jellyfish hovered in the air, nestled within the fog. Hornet was careful not to get close to them, since they had an explosive nature. They looked docile to any ordinary watcher, but a simple touch would cause them to pop and explode violently, breaking the stoic silence that characterized Fog Canyon.

Connecting Fog Canyon to the Fungal wastes was a Stag Station known as Queen’s Station-- a compliment to the station east of it called King’s Station. Apart from King’s Station, it was the largest Stag Station in Hallownest. At one point it was pristine and well taken care of, but by now it had begun to crack and crumble with time. Hornet personally liked the vines that snaked up one side of the wall, but she couldn’t ignore the fact that the vines were probably weakening the structure of the station. 

Hornet was never the hugest fan of the Fungal Wastes. It had a musty feel to it, and the spores constantly floating in the air obstructed her senses. Ghost didn’t seem to mind it, though, which made sense. They led Hornet through the Fungal Wastes, in a zigzagging pattern up and around the landscape. Hornet was reminded of more and more man made structures within the wastes, and they became more common with every step towards the city of tears. She had just begun to get used to the smell and the atmosphere of the Fungal Wastes, when her and Ghost suddenly stood in front of a large bridge, placed conspicuously above a bubbling pool of acid. 

Hornet looked over at Ghost, who had bent their knees and placed their hands behind their back. She was about to ask them what they were doing, when there was a sharp crackling sound, and crystals began to sprout from their heels. Wind sprung up at this from nowhere, and when the crystals appeared to stop growing, they broke spontaneously as Ghost flew off across the bridge like a bird.

They stopped the Crystal Heart right at the edge of the bridge on the other side. Hornet smiled at this; a reminder of yet another skill that her sibling possessed. She couldn’t really see how it could be useful aboveground, but she kept it in mind.

This bridge led to the City of tears, or, specifically, a building that led to the city. The City of Tears was Hornet’s favorite man made place in Hallownest. It had such an incredible feeling to it-- the pitter-pattering of the rain, the soft blue hues, the perfect balance of chill and humidity in the air. Hornet wasn’t surprised to find a few lonely sentries in the hall leading to the city, laying either dead or infected against the walls. She couldn’t help but mourn for them, even though by now they were far beyond saving.

Her and Ghost passed quite a few windows on their way down the tower and to the ground of the city. Hornet kept herself from looking out the windows just yet-- she wanted to get a good look at the city from the ground floor, outside, in the unceasing rain. And soon, her and Ghost were on the floor, and she stopped them just to feel the rain on her face and the chill of the wind. 

Hornet had usually liked the rain above ground, at least when it wasn’t thundering. It reminded her of this place, but being in the City of Tears was an entirely different feeling from standing in the rain in the city above. The blue hues of the architecture complimented the perfectly clear water that rained from above, and the mist that covered the ceiling enchanted the area in a way that nothing aboveground could recreate. As her and Ghost walked through the rain, she took care to walk carefully and slowly through the water that had pooled on the ground. They both walked around the building that led to the waterways, which was where they were headed next, only because Hornet wanted to get a glimpse at the statue of the Hollow Knight, in the heart of the city.

Now this was a spectacle. This statue hadn’t been at all defiled during her time away from Hallownest, and it still stood as tall as ever. There was something about the way the Hollow Knight stood, amongst the dreamers, in the rain that planted a small seed of hope within Hornet. She walked over to the fountain and placed her hand in the basin, swishing around her reflection in the water. She looked up then, into the Hollow Knight’s blank eyes, and then to her mother. Sure, it was only a statue, but she could hear her mother’s voice in her head for a quick moment. It was gone as quickly as it came, and all Hornet could hear was the rain. 

She finally stood up straight and looked over at Ghost, who was staring up at the statue. She stared at the water that flowed freely down their face and into their eyes, which they never bothered to close. She started walking towards the building, and tapped them on the shoulder as she passed them.

The time for reminiscing was over.


	20. The Mistake

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance has an encounter with the police.

The Radiance had planned to look around the parking Garage in the middle of the city today. She had planned to look around for the entrance to Hallownest. She had planned to try to draw the police away from that place so she could get a good look at it.

What she hadn’t planned to do was to get attacked by a battalion of police officers.

The Radiance was staring at the TV, going over the reports of the break-in. She wanted a good look at this Garage before she went there, just to see if there were any obvious places that Hornet could have gone. As expected, there were none-- she wasn’t expecting the entrance to Hallownest to be that conspicuous. She watched them again to see if there was any easy way she could distract the police officers from the scene.

She hadn’t gotten through all of the reports before she heard urgent knocking at her door. She stood up abruptly at this, her eyes boring onto the door.

“Police, open up.” She heard from the hallway. Her immediate thought was that either Franklin or Grimm had tried to report her to the police, and she highly doubted it was the latter option.

She walked quietly over to the counter where she kept her sunglasses and placed them over her eyes.

“Open the door or we will be forced to break it down.”

The Radiance adjusted her coat as she walked over to the door to open it quietly. She opened it to reveal three officers-- one female, her hand on her holster, in front of two men. One of the men looked large and muscular, while the other was on the skinnier side. None of them came even close to her height, however.

“We’re here to conduct a full search of this apartment. We’ve received intel that you have committed a first degree murder of the official owner of this place.” The woman speaks, skillfully hiding her surprise at Radi’s impressive height. “Step aside so we can begin.”

“Might I ask you who you received this intel from?” Radi asks, her voice silky.

“Our informant has chosen to remain anonymous.” She says. “Step out of the way, ma’am.”

“Does he go by the name Franklin?” Radi cocks her head. “I don’t know his last name, but we’re good friends, trust me.”

“Step aside.” She repeats, her hand tightening on her gun.

“Very well.” The Goddess steps aside, and the three of them file into the apartment. Two of them go to start searching the place, while the larger man goes behind the Radiance and begins to reach for his handcuffs.

“Hands behind your back.”

“I’m afraid not.” She sighs. “I still don’t see any proof that you’re actually police officers and that you actually have any permission to be here.”

There’s a shuffling of paper and the man walks in front of her to hold out a piece of approval paper, and his ID. “Happy? Now, hands behind your back.”

“Hmm…” Radi slowly places her hands behind her back, but maintains a dangerously confident posture. She feels the handcuffs click around her wrists, but she still feels entirely in power. She smiles at the false sense of security she’s luring these officers into.

The female officer goes to one of the doors on the side-- specifically, the one where the Radiance has her infected victim. She goes to pull the door open, but it’s locked.

“Search her for the key.” She hisses to the man behind Radi.

The Radiance was fine with her hands in the cuffs, but she immediately recoils at the touch of the man’s hands on her waist. 

“Ma’am, please stand still.” He grunts behind her. A sharp chill runs up her spine as he tries to pull her closer to him. It’s here when the Radiance kicks at him from behind and she hears him groan as he falls to the floor on one knee.

Radi spins around to look at him when she hears a few conspicuous clicks from behind her. She peers behind her to see that both the other officers are pointing their revolvers at her. 

“Get face down on the floor.” The female says sharply, her eyes glinting. “Take one more step and we’ll be forced to restrain you in any way possible.”  
The larger man is still kneeling on the floor, groaning. Oh, he was in the perfect position for the Radiance to just place her hand on his forehead…

“I’m going to give you five seconds.” The officer says, her voice steady.

Ah, to hell with it. 

The Radiance places her hand on the man’s forehead, and he goes stalk still. 

“Five. Four. Three--”

She’s cut off by the larger officer’s sudden coughing. Infection starts to drip from his gaping mouth.

“Two… What are you doing to him?”  Her voice is slightly shaky. “What is that…”

The room is silent, save for his now muffled gagging. It’s not until the man’s eye is forced out of its socket by infection and hits the floor when someone speaks again.

“Holy fuck…” The woman hands are shaking now, clasped around the gun, watching in horror as her coworker’s eyes are forced out of his head. “Call for backup.”

The policeman next to her fumbles with the walkie talkie at his hip. He places it up to his mouth. “I don’t know what the fuck we’re dealing with but we need backup now. 2709 Vanidy Place.”

Radi finally takes her hand off of his forehead, her hands still bound by the handcuffs. The officer continues to kneel there, his eyes filled and dripping with bright orange goo. Effortlessly, the Radiance pulls her wrists apart and the handcuffs break at the chain. She turns towards the officers now, The remnants of the cuffs melting off of her wrists. She pulls off her glasses and drops them to the floor, and the two of them inhale sharply.

“Holy fuck--”

The male policeman had begun to speak into his walkie talkie, but was cut off by a sharp bang from the female’s gun. She had instinctively fired as the Radiance took a step towards her, but the Radiance had reacted faster-- she held the bullet in between her fingers before the sound had even stopped. Being the God of Light came with the perks of having instincts at the speed of light.

“Call the fucking calvary.” His voice was as low and quiet as the Radiance’s eyes bored onto him.

“It’s really a damn shame you felt the need to pursue Mister Franklin’s request.” Radi sighs, crumbling the bullet in between her fingers like sand. “Did he undersell me? Or did you just not believe him when he told you the God of Light was back?”

The two of them were entirely speechless.

“Terribly sorry that I have to do this, but it would have happened anyway eventually.” She continues to walk until she stands right in front of the woman. She places her hand on the officer’s chin. “I’m hoping your backup won’t get here soon, and you should too. They don’t stand a chance.”

“Whoever you are, you can’t take on the full force of the police.” She hissed back, trying to yank her head away from the Radiance.

“You’d be surprised.” Their eye contact lingered for a moment, until the Radiance raised her other hand and placed it on the woman’s forehead. The other officer simply stared in horror.

“Can you… not do that to me?” He said quietly once his coworker had been completely infected.

“Once I’m done, you’ll be glad I did it.” The Radiance walked over to him, and the officer found himself frozen in fear. Hand on his forehead. Mind blank. Something rising up in him.

The Radiance had just removed her hand from the man’s forehead when the door behind her burst open and at least 10 police officers filed into the room, some wearing protective gear.

“Drop the weapon and put your hands in the air. If you go with us peacefully no one needs to get hurt.” She heard someone announce behind her. She could feel the eyes staring at the back of her head, and the guns all pointed at her.

She starts to turn toward them, but is immediately met with the command: “Don’t turn around. Place your hands in the air, and walk backward slowly.”

“You don’t want this fight.” She warned, her voice getting low and deadly.

“There doesn’t have to be a fight.” The same man replied.

“I don’t think you understand the power I possess.” She retorts. “ _ You  _ are the one with the choice here. Not me.”

There’s a bout of silence, in which the announcer silently gestures to his men to slowly step towards her. The Radiance can sense this.

“Just put your hands in the air.”

To his surprise, she chuckles. “I’m the god of light. You can’t sneak up on me.”

Before anyone can react to this comment, she whips around, and the two men who had attempted to sneak up on her lunge toward her with tasers. There’s a sharp blast of light, that envelopes the room and throws the two men onto the floor. When the light dims, the Radiance is standing there, wings unfurled and eyes gleaming. A circle of pure light surrounds her feet. It’s at this moment that it hits the policemen that  _ this isn’t human.  _

“FIRE!”

It isn’t like anyone held back. No one had any regrets about shooting this thing. They had at least felt some remorse toward her when they thought she was human. 

Bullets rushed towards the Radiance all from one direction. She brings both her arms up and her armor materializes on her arms as the bullets strike her. Two swords materialize in her hands and she throws them at the two men standing at the edge of the group. The force of the throw knocks them back and pins them to the wall through the chest. 

_ “I TOLD YOU YOU DIDN’T WANT THIS FIGHT.”  _ The Radiance’s voice is angry and distorted. Her three pronged crown slowly materializes on her head. The police officers are shouting, but she doesn’t really care what they’re saying. She goes for the officers at the end of the group, because they’re just begging to be picked off. 

Sword in their gut. Deflect another round of bullets. Someone charges at her. She grabs his arm and spins him around to step on the back of his calf. The Radiance hears a satisfying  _ crunch  _ sound. She tosses him aside.

More bullets. These are bigger. The Radiance uses a sword to slice them in half with impeccable precision. The guy on her right is separated from the group. An orb of pure light strikes him in the heart, and he falls right to his knees, gasping for air.

Bullets again. Her chest armor materializes from thin air to stop them from penetrating her. But her instincts tell her to step back, and not from the bullets, but from something else. She takes a leap of faith as she turns on a dime and jumps toward the window, breaking it on impact. Her wings catch on the air and she looks back just in time to see an explosion from the apartment. Someone had thrown a grenade.

The Radiance lands on a car below the apartment that was stopped in traffic. There were police officers standing around everywhere, and the blinking lights from their cars were almost blinding. There was even a  _ helicopter  _ in the sky.

“NO ONE ELSE NEEDS TO GET HURT!” She heard someone say on a loudspeaker as she got to her feet on top of the car. “HAND YOURSELF OVER AND THIS CAN ALL BE OVER.”

“You’re in no position to bargain.” She hadn’t yelled, but everyone had heard her just fine. “Neither of us want any more people to die, but I’m perfectly willing to sacrifice your people if it means my success.”

“If you don’t want people to die then give up.” The person on the loudspeaker said.

“If the only choice you're giving me is to either give in to you or fight, I’ll take the latter.” She smirks to herself. “You’re just in my way.”

There’s no response. The guns are still all pointed at her. The civilians in the cars around her are running away. This is when the helicopter above fires something at her. It’s large. It’s fast. It’s hurtling towards her and there’s no way she can stop it with her armor. She sticks her hand into the air and a wall of light, almost as wide as the entire street and as tall as five stories is erected in front of her like a shield. The missile that had been shot exploded on one side, leaving the Radiance completely unaffected, but the destruction on the other side wasn’t easily understated. Once the wall began to fade, she started to hear gunshots. Most of the bullets missed her because they were fired from a decent distance, but the ones that did bounced off her armor effortlessly. Radi focused her energy into the precision of her attacks, and sent a beam of light from her palm hurtling towards the heart of the police force on the ground. Now for the helicopter…

She raised her hand to the helicopter, summoning energy for another blast of light. Her focus was on a few stray bullets whizzing past her, but it wasn’t until the helicopter shot another missile that she let the blast of light erupt from her palm. It would have worked to take out the helicopter if the missile hadn’t been shot. Instead, the light blast and the missile collided in midair, and the amount of pure light that was created in the street was astronomical. The temperature had shot up 20 degrees. You couldn’t see a foot in front of you.

It was at this moment that the Radiance was swept off the car she had been standing on, now knocked off from the blast. Her lightning fast instincts hadn’t been able to sense the police officer who tackled her— how could they have seen her? Not even the Radiance herself could see past the blinding light.

She felt her shoulder collide with the ground and she let out a groan as she slowed to a stop. Whoever had grabbed her off that car had been insanely strong. Not just anyone could borderline carry the Radiance across the street like that.

She felt herself getting pushed up against the wall, her vision still obstructed by the light. She didn’t particularly like how this person was handling her, so she grabbed their forearm, which was on her shoulder, and tried to yank it away from her. Surprisingly, they still held on, and now she could hear them.

“STOP!” It was somewhat of a whisper-shout, but what made her stop struggling was the fact that she knew the voice. It only took a few seconds for the light to dim, and she could finally see the person’s face.

“Grimm?”

The Troupe Master dug his fingers into the Radiance’s shoulders in anger and frustration. “What the everloving  _ fuck _ are you doing?”

“What’s it look like?”

“Killing all the people you want to eventually rule over?” His face was contorted in angry confusion. 

“Well, they’re trying to arrest me, so yeah.”

“Not only them!” Grimm shook her roughly, and looked feverishly over to his right. The two of them were in an alleyway, just to the side of where the Radiance had stood fighting the police. “We have to get out of here.”

“Where are you planning on going?” The Radiance asks, her wings disappearing as Grimm takes her further into the alleyway. 

“The only place I can think of right now.” He says exasperatingly. He takes a right into an even skinnier alley and slips right in between two garbage cans. The Radiance doesn’t say anything. The two of them can hear the police sirens from the street near them.

“You can’t just go around killing whoever you want.” He says.

“They’re all going to be under my influence soon.”

“I know. But that’s a better fate than death, at least in my opinion.” He says under his breath. “And I know you want them under your influence, and killing them doesn’t do anything for you. That’s why you don’t want them dead.”

“Well yes, but it was only a few police officers.”

“And a few civilians too.” Grimm looks back at her, his eyes narrowed. “I mean, all I’m saying is those guys probably had more to live for than that.”

“That was their fault.” Radi snarls. “If they hadn’t blown up a grenade or shot a damn missile at me we’d all be hunky dory.”

Grimm scoffs. “It doesn’t matter. The point is, I got you out of there before you could kill any other people, and now you’re probably the most wanted person in the city…” Grimm reaches the end of the alleyway and peeks out of both sides to make sure no one is looking. “Okay, I don’t know about you, but I think you look pretty noticeable right now. Can you get rid of the getup?”

“Getup? It’s my ancient armor.” She replies, her armor and crown disappearing anyway. Grimm thrusts a hoodie into her arms. 

“Wear this to cover your hair.” he hisses. “I’m going to have to take you a few blocks down.” He looks back into the street and scans the area for any people. He quietly gestures to the Radiance when he thinks it’s safe to cross.

The two of them sprint across the street, weaving in between cars and sliding into another alleyway on the other side.

“Where are you taking me?” 

“You’ll see.” Grimm whispers under his breath, climbing on top of a dumpster and dropping down on the other side. “Just be quiet.”

The two of them cross three more streets, which get more crowded as they get further from the explosion of light. The two of them jaywalk across the streets and force their way through the people walking on the sidewalks, but nobody pays them any attention really. Perhaps they would have if they could have seen the Radiance’s eyes, which she didn’t bother to cover up, but everybody was too focused on what they were doing.

At the fifth street, Grimm gestures for the Radiance to follow him to the right. They head down this street for a bit, keeping up with the flow of traffic, while the Radiance looks down at the concrete, her eyes hooded.

At the fourth block, Grimm suddenly yanks Radi’s hand to the left, and she looks up abruptly.

“What the hell?” she whispers.

“We’re here.”

The Radiance looks around, and she immediately recognizes the place. “Isn’t this the parking garage that Hornet disappeared near?”

“This is the place she went.” Grimm answers. He walks over to the elevator and presses the button. “I need you to go upstairs and press the button to call the elevator to the second floor now. Got it”

“Why can’t you?”

“We’re wasting time.” Grimm replies angrily. The door opens, and he immediately wedges himself in between the doors. “Go and call the elevator.”

Radi scoffs, but heads upstairs anyway to call the elevator. She presses the button carelessly and runs back downstairs to find Grimm in the same position, wedged in between the doors. The elevator behind him is no longer there, and instead there’s a large hole in the elevator shaft.

“Go in there.” Grimm hisses, fighting to keep the doors open. “I’ll follow you.”

The Radiance makes eye contact with Grimm, wondering if he’s taking her to the place she’s thinking about. She sneaks underneath his arms, which are shaking slightly from the weight of the doors. She jumps down into the shaft, which is dark and dingy. The little light that’s being emitted from the door above suddenly vanishes as Grimm lets the doors slam shut. He lands behind the Radiance on the dirt at the bottom of the shaft.

“Are you taking me where I think you’re taking me?” The Radiance asks skeptically, taking off her hood and flipping her hair out so that she emits a bit of light for them to see.

“You’re about to find out.” Grimm walks over to a pickup truck parked right against the wall in the corner of the room, and crouches down. “Under here.”

Radi follows him underneath the truck, keeping her head low and her hair tucked within the hoodie so it doesn’t touch the truck or the floor. Once she’s out from underneath the truck, pulls her hair out again for a dim source of light. They’ve reached a dirty room with a slanted floor of dirt. Grimm walks toward the far wall, and pushes on the right side of it until it gives away with a loud grinding sound.

“Somebody outdid themselves.” The Radiance smirks as she sees the door revealed by the moving wall. It’s a large, ten-foot tall stone entrance with Hallownest’s seal etched onto it. A basin sits next to it, with a large finger prick in the middle.

The Radiance is rather pleased that Grimm’s taking her to Hallownest, but he was somewhat right-- she didn’t know what she was going to do once she got back. Reminisce? She figured she’d know what to do once she got back into the heart of the kingdom.

Grimm shut the stone wall behind them and walked toward the basin. He delicately pricked his finger and smeared the blood on the inside of the basin. The etched Hallownest symbol on the door glowed suddenly, and the floor rumbled as the entrance slowly rose off the floor, revealing a stone shaft with a rope leading down.

“I didn’t know you could bleed.” The Radiance remarked, as Grimm wiped his finger on his shirt.

“I can when I want to.” He brought the finger to his mouth and sucked on it. “Damn. It’s almost like I’ve forgotten what pain feels like.” 

The two of them step inside of the shaft. Grimm grabs onto the rope and starts sliding down it as the door behind them shuts closed on its own. Radi waits until he’s reached the bottom when she grabs on and slides down. She hits the floor roughly and looks around.

“It’s been so long since I’ve been here.” Grimm sighs, looking around the forgotten crossroads entrance. The Radiance scoffs.

“It’s been even longer for me.”


	21. The Abyss

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ghost revisits their birthplace.

The Royal Waterways was the dingiest, dirtiest place in Hallownest, and also Hornet’s least favorite place in the kingdom. Some of the animals in that place weren’t her favorite, specifically the flukemons. They were large, demonic, worm-like creatures that dwelled in the waterways, that attacked blindly and without thought. Hornet didn’t mind the darkness of the waterways, after all, she was born in Deepnest-- no, her distaste lied with the dampness and the dirtiness.

But they would only spend a small stint of their time in this damp, putrid place. They went to their left and down past the crooked bench in the waterways, and then right through where the White Defender had created his own hideout after his exile. He gained the nickname “The Dung Defender” during his exile, after the place he decided to hide out in. Hornet would never understand what urged him to take up residence in such a place, but it wasn’t her business.

Ghost and Hornet arrived in a shaft that went from the second half of the city of tears down to the lower tram. Two winged sentries sat there, perched on the wall waiting for them, their eyes bright but very dead. They sprung off the walls as they spotted them, and they fended them off rather effortlessly. Using the walls on all sides of them, Hornet and Ghost jumped to the walls and leaped towards them, taking two sharp, lethal swipes at the sentries. They fell to the floor, one impaled by a spike sticking up dangerously on the way down the shaft, the other falling and flopping down helplessly onto the scaffolding. 

They’d be up again. Infected people, like the two winged sentries, couldn’t really be killed. After a time, they would slowly sit up and return to their places perched on the walls as their injuries healed. It was really a miserable existence, if you could even call it that. Hornet doubted it even counted as an existence, considering none of the Radiance’s victims could think. They simply existed without a purpose and without a will. In some ways, Hornet wanted to have that— to have the burden of the kingdom lifted off her shoulders, the burden of a mind lifted off her shoulders. To simply wait endlessly for nothing. But no. The only reason to live was for free will, and that was what the Radiance took from people.

She and Ghost navigated down through the scaffolding in the tall stone shaft. Once they reached the bottom, they turned left to a long, wide tunnel lined with creatures on the floor that writhed and hissed maliciously at them. Their long spines wouldn’t be a pleasure to fall upon.

They slowly hopped from pillar to pillar over the pit of spiny creatures, fighting off sentries that hovered above them. When the two of them reached the other side, they went down to find an abandoned tram stop. Ghost had the tram pass they had used when they returned to Hallownest long ago, but today they had no need for the tram.

Hornet dropped below the platform into what was now fully the Ancient Basin. This was a barren place, and the only creatures that roamed it were large, spiny bugs called shadow creepers. They were docile and only crawled uninterrupted up and down the walls and floors. The western part of the Ancient Basin had more life forms in it, but they were all heavily infected, and at this point, way beyond saving. 

Hornet pressed on, continuing downward until she reached the large archway where the door to the Abyss once stood. Centuries ago, Ghost had removed the doorway with the King’s Brand, and not much had changed since then. Hornet led them into the Abyss and to the edge of the overhang created above the incredible drop.

This was the most infamous place in Hallownest. There had been a reason the Pale King sealed it off from the rest of the Kingdom. It was likely both his biggest regret and his proudest achievement. The Abyss was huge, and mostly barren. The only living creatures were a few shadow creepers, which took up residence after the Pale King sealed it off. The walls were covered in spikes, and floating platforms littered the inside. They were somewhat of a characteristic of hallownest— certain natural structures would float in the air, completely stable and still. They weren’t really noticeable in any other place other than the Abyss, but it made the space that much more impressive.

Standing on the platform at the top, the floor was only a solid grey sheet, but if you got closer to it, a horrid amount of skulls would reveal themselves. Any sane person that spent more than ten minutes down at the bottom of the abyss would likely go insane, if they weren’t killed first. If the millions of blank stares weren’t bad enough, the shades of the killed vessels would rise from their corpses and attack the intruder, to protect the void that they’re made from. Hornet had never been down to the bottom. She only knew about the shades and the skulls from the journal entries Ghost had written, and she had no intent whatsoever to go down there now. 

“Little Ghost…” She began, and looked down at her sibling, who stood next to her. She placed her hand on their shoulder. “You have to go down there alone now.”

Ghost looked up at her, and nodded. They didn’t mind leaving her, but Hornet was less than comfortable. She couldn’t bear the thought of Ghost not returning. 

“You’ll know when to return.” She nodded to them. She watched them as they leaped from the platform and landed cleanly on one of the floating platforms, staring up at her. Hornet caught a glimpse of the shiny white charm pinned onto them— the Kingsoul. She took a deep breath and sat down, closing her eyes to think.

…

Ghost reached the bottom of the Abyss after about 5 minutes. The pit was insanely tall, probably nearly as tall as some of the skyscrapers in the city above, although it felt taller. The vessel obviously wasn’t fazed by the sheer amount of corpses underneath their feet, despite every single eye socket staring at them. The skeletons crunched underneath their feet as they walked slowly atop them. Other than that, it was eerily quiet.

A small shade emerged from the corpses a few feet away from them. It floated toward them, emitting a small, low sound, like the wind. Ghost’s eyes slowly bored onto them, and they swiped their sword at them when they got close enough. The blade sliced right through the shade, causing it to recoil and turn into a dark ball that floated back down into the skeletons. Hitting the shade felt much different than hitting something solid. The sword, when it made contact with the dark mass, cut through it cleanly, but it wasn’t like they had just swiped air. There was something within the darkness that the blade had cut through, but it wasn’t solid, liquid, or gas. It was something supernatural and strange.

Ghost watched the pitch black ball float back into the floor, and then heard a rattling sound over to their right. The skeletons over there shook violently, and then lowered into the ground, revealing a passageway into the Abyss floor. Ghost walked over and looked down into it. It was a thin passageway, leading further downwards, and the walls, floor, and ceiling were covered entirely with skulls. Ghost dropped down into the hole, and watched as the skeletons shook once again, soon covering the opening after them. There was no way back. 

They stood up and looked around the area. This was a small area, an area that someone with claustrophobia would find very uncomfortable. There were two ways that Ghost could walk, and they chose the way to the right. 

It soon became clear that this was somewhat of a maze, and luckily Ghost didn’t have a mind, otherwise they would have gone insane within minutes. Dark masses would emerge from the skulls every few seconds, and Ghost would have to fend them off as they scurried throughout the passageways, routinely finding dead ends, all filled with the skulls of their siblings.

It had been probably near 30 minutes when Ghost arrived at a dark gate blocking their way into the next room. This was a shade gate, an unsurpassable kind of gate that the Pale King would occasionally place around Hallownest to keep ordinary citizens from peeping into places they shouldn’t. But Ghost was a vessel, born from void, and centuries ago, they had picked up an item from the void known as the shade cloak. It was a highly useful item that only creatures born from void could use, and it allowed them to dash through attacks without getting hit. It seemed like borderline teleportation, but in reality, when using the shade cloak, Ghost would become a shadow, allowing them to pass straight through entities without coming to any harm. Luckily, it was an item that allowed them to pass through the shade gates as well.

Ghost hunched over, staring at the gate, poised to dash. There was a sudden burst of motion, and in a second, they were on the other side. The shade gate they had passed through rippled from the motion, but slowly regained its shape. 

A large egg had been revealed. The vessel walked over to it, their eyes drifting over their reflection in it. The reflection was crystal clear, almost as though a duplicate of themselves were standing on the other side of a pane of dark glass. Even though the egg was extremely reflective, it was also a deadening black color. The egg had been cracked open, and spikes protruded from the top. Dark tendrils stretched from the inside of the egg and crawled into the skeletons on the wall. It emanated a very strange aura, one that could infect you and slowly drive you insane.

Ghost simply stared at it, wondering what to do. It was calling to them, so they were sure this was what they were looking for, but there wasn’t an indication of what to do. It wasn’t really deliberate, but Ghost suddenly found themselves stepping backwards, and raising a sword that didn’t exist. They swung down abruptly upon the egg, and the imaginary sword they raised manifested itself within their grasp. It was shiny and purple, but not solid. The sword collided with the egg with a loud clanging sound, and there was a blast of white light. Ghost was knocked off their feet and they landed with a rattling sound amongst the skeletons on the floor.

Their dark eyes shut on impact.

…

It was pitch black. It was uncomfortable. Dead hands grasped at them from all sides. It was so silent, until they heard the rough landing of a body on top of them. They were buried under still corpses, the silence occasionally being penetrated by the sharp landing of one of their siblings.

They heard voices in their ears, and suddenly, they had an urge to climb from the cold, dead corpses. Painstakingly, they reached upwards and pulled themselves from the sea of death. Every thrust upwards would have been filled with agony, but they couldn’t feel anything. All they could feel was an urge to crawl towards the top.

They breached the surface of the skeletons and crawled out of the stack. It was still incredibly dark and cold, but they could still see a few feet in front of them, and that was all they needed.

Forced jumps onto the next platforms they could only barely see, and an ever increasing urge to reach the top of this place was all that kept them going. Their fingers dug into the side of each floating platform as they inched towards the top. The falling vessels became less and less common as they got closer to the top. They paid no attention to them. The silence became more and more deafening as they climbed, until—

They leaped upwards onto a platform. This one was metal, and a dull glow had emanated at the top. This was the last platform, there was nothing after this. Their feet dangled below them as their fingers barely grasped the edge of the metal. They pulled themselves up, and looked up to the source of the glowing.

A man, short, but still unbelievably grand, stood there with a crown that was more than a foot tall. He emanated a blinding glow, at least compared to the darkness of the Abyss. His cloak dragged behind him as he walked away from the edge.

Someone was next to him. They faced away from the vessel hanging on the edge, standing proudly next to the glowing man. They had impressively large horns and they looked almost similar to the vessel.

They felt themselves slipping from the platform and desperately swung their arm up for support. The horned child above them looked back at them, still in an intense struggle to hold on. They made eye contact. Both of their eyes were pitch dark and emotionless, but there still managed to be a shared connection between them.

The vessel turned away from them, and walked after the man. Nothing was said, nothing was shown, nothing was felt. The platform shook violently suddenly, and they were jerked off, and sent falling down. The glow from the door slowly dimmed, until there was a resounding  _ thunk,  _ and everything went pitch black.

Nothing could be felt, but they could hear voices. One stood out particularly. It was calm and resounding, and it belonged to the Pale King.

“...No cost too great.”

It was quiet for a moment.

“No mind to think.”

“No will to break.”

“No voice to cry suffering.”

“Born of god and void.”

This was all said in quick succession. There was yet another silence.

“You shall seal the blinding light that plagues their dreams.”

“You are the vessel.”

“You are the Hollow Knight.”

Silence.

Ghost opened their eyes.

…

Hornet had been sitting on the platform for what seemed like hours. Perhaps it was just the worry that was getting to her, but she now wondered what was taking her sibling so long. She knew the Abyss was a freaky and hard to navigate place, even though she had never been down there, but she figured Ghost wouldn't have a hard time doing so. And by now, the silence, broken only by the occasional gust of wind, was driving her insane.

It wasn’t until she heard a shuffling sound from below that she sat bolt upright and peered down into the Abyss. She couldn’t see anyone from here, but her hopes had shot right up. Her eyes were suddenly diverted to a white Horn that appeared from behind one of the floating platforms. Slowly, her sibling crawled up the remaining platforms and leaped up next to her. She looked down at them, and the first thing she noticed was that the Kingsoul had disappeared. She didn’t quite know what to ask them, but what she knew was that it worked.

Ghost seemed to realize what she wanted, so they pulled up their cloak and pulled down their collar to reveal their bare chest, which was now embedded with a dark charm, which resembled the Kingsoul, only made of void.

“Yes.” Hornet breathed.

…

The trip back to Sheo’s was much less stressful than the trip to the Abyss. Hornet was relieved beyond anything, and she couldn’t believe that it was practically already time to return to the surface and confront the Radiance. She thanked Sheo and Niall for keeping the Hollow Knight in check while they were gone, and also for the new nail they created for Hollow. They seemed rather calm, and Sheo said they didn’t give them any trouble. Hornet was as happy as she had been these last few days as she took the two of them back up into the city above.

It was relatively straightforward as they made their way back to the garage— the door to Hallownest let them out easily and they crawled underneath the pickup truck back towards the elevator shaft. This is when Hornet started to wonder what to do from here. She doubted the police were still camping out around the parking garage above them, but she wouldn’t be surprised if they were. There was a button at the bottom of the shaft that read “push to open doors above,” but the bigger concern was that someone up there would see them. She shook the thought and prayed that there wasn’t anyone up there.

She pressed the button and jumped up out into the garage. Ghost followed right behind her, and the two of them helped Hollow out of the elevator shaft. The door closed immediately once all three were out, and Hornet breathed a sigh of relief. She walked towards the garage exit, making a note of the eerie silence. She wasn’t really expecting anything unusual upon their return, but when she got a good look at the street perpendicular to the garage’s entrance, she knew something was wrong.

There weren’t any cars on the street, and there weren’t any people on the sidewalks. It was completely barren. The strange thing was that it was rush hour too, and the streets should be packed, but there wasn’t a single person out. Hornet then saw a car turn the corner and she took a sigh of relief, until she realized it was a police car. She quickly pushed Ghost and Hollow back into the garage and hid quietly until the car had passed.

What the  _ hell  _ had happened here?


	22. The Lockdown

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The siblings return to the surface to find the city in lockdown.

The two vessels’ eyes were trained on their sister. Hornet was standing with her back against the wall, her eyes wide. Surely the city didn’t go into lockdown after she had broken the Hollow Knight out of prison, right? She had lived in this city for a very long time, and she knew how the citizens liked to react when the city told them what to do. The city council didn’t take lockdown lightly. There had to have been something absolutely insane going down within the last few days.

Hornet peeked her head out of the entrance again, looking around for any police cars. She looked back at her siblings, before motioning for them to follow her into the alleyway across from the garage. She immediately collapsed behind a dumpster so that she couldn’t be seen from the street, and her eyes bored onto her siblings. They both still had manifestations of their horns atop their heads, and so did she.

“Off.” she commanded, her own horns disappearing. “And these outfits have got to go.” She looked over at the Hollow Knight, who was now wearing garb from Hallownest. Apparently Sheo and his partner wanted them to feel included.

She wanted to get back to her apartment, but it was pretty far away, and there was a decently large chance that they might be seen. There were windows above them that they could enter into if they wanted, but there was a big chance people were in there. The most pressing issue was their outfits. Even if everyone was still walking around, they’d stand out. 

“Stay here.” Hornet ordered, jumping straight upwards onto the walls. On the off chance that one of the apartments above them was empty, they could definitely steal some clothes to disguise themselves. Whatever had happened while they were gone must have been insane, but Hornet didn’t want to risk them getting caught if the police hadn’t forgotten about them.

She peeked into multiple windows, trying to find a room that was empty. She was five stories up when she found the first darkened window, and slowly opened it up. It was unlocked, probably because no normal person would have been able to reach it. She slipped inside the apartment and began to look around the space. It seemed to belong to a couple who was living together, based on the clothing items in the bedroom. The man’s clothes could probably fit Hollow, even though they were a little small, and the woman’s could fit Hornet, even though they were a little bit large. She changed into a skirt and jacket, which normally she wouldn’t wear, but it made her look less like how she normally looked, which was good. She let her hair down and wore a headband to keep her bangs out of her eyes, and did some makeup. She wasn’t good at makeup, by any means, so she looked kind of obnoxious, but at least she looked different.

As she picked out clothes for Hollow, she thought about what to put on Ghost. None of the clothes here would fit them, so at this point her best bet was probably to take one of the women's crop tops and use it as a T-shirt. Then it occurred to her that they could probably pass as a girl with the right clothes, so she gathered up a miniskirt and a coat that could look like it was supposed to be oversized.

She looked back out through the window and hopped down into the alleyway with the clothes. She handed them to Hollow and Ghost, and watched them put it on. Hornet tied back Hollow’s hair and tucked most of it under a beanie, and then put on sunglasses to hide his eye. She turned to Ghost and put on a separate pair of sunglasses, and then combed back their hair so it looked longer and straighter. Right now, this was the best she could do.

Hornet started to run through her options in her head once she finished with Ghost’s disguise. Right now, there were three things she wanted to do. One was to find out what had happened in the city while they were gone. Two was to consult her father on her plan, and three was to find the Radiance. If she could get to the mental hospital first and talk to the Pale King, that would be a good start. Chances are he knows what happened, and he might even have a clue as to where the Radiance is.

The mental hospital was near the outskirts of the city. It was decently far away from the parking garage, which was nearer to the middle, but even if she did manage to make it to the hospital, there would be other problems. Chances are the hospital wasn’t even open, and even if it was, it would be really suspicious for her to go back and visit the same person she had visited a few days ago. The nurses there would have to be really stupid to not see through her half assed disguise.

But there wasn’t much for her to do other than to go and try to see him. She could have always just sat in the alleyway for the rest of the day, but there was no time to waste, so she sucked in a sharp breath and gestured for her siblings to follow her.

She kept her route as short as possible, sprinting across streets and into alleyways as fast and as carefully as possible. She always made sure the streets were clear before she motioned for Hollow to cross, since they were the slowest. 

The sun had set entirely by the time they got to the hospital. Hornet told Ghost and Hollow to stay hidden in the alleyway closest to the hospital, since they’d only hold her back. She sprinted in the dark towards the front door, and sure enough, the building was dark. She let herself in through a window near the back of the building, and closed it as she dropped onto the floor. The only sound she could hear was the buzzing of the air conditioning. Now all she had to do was find her dad.

She snuck towards the front of the building, where she would have entered legally. The front desk was empty, but she hoped there was some sort of record there of where all the patients were written down. There was a promising file on the desk, which was thick and filled with sheets of paper. She walked over to it and opened it, and began to look through the sheets of paper. Each of them had a photo of one of the patients, along with a few paragraphs of information about them. She found the Pale King not too far in, and his room number, which was 305. She couldn’t help but get slightly distracted by what the paper said he suffered from, even though it was all probably an act.

-Suffers from hallucinations often involving a woman whom he believes is his enemy.

-Suffers from a constant state of fear and worry.

-Shivers constantly.

-No diagnosis.

She put down the info sheet and placed it back inside the file. It seemed like PK had the nurses here pretty convinced of his insanity.

Hornet continued up the staircase to the third floor, and quickly found room 305. Room 304 had some sort of thumping sound coming from it, and she could hear faint sobs from 306, but the Pale King’s room was silent. She grasped the door handle and tried to pull it open, but it was locked, understandably. She pulled a pin from the inside of her skirt and tried to pick the lock, but she couldn’t get it. She scoffed at the handle, and wanted to just bash it in, but she didn’t in case there was someone else in the room with him that would wake up. 

She kneeled down and placed her forehead against the crack in between the door and the frame. Her father had never been a heavy sleeper during Hallownest’s prime, and she hoped this was still the case now. She inhaled deeply and spoke.

“Dad?”

There was no response. She heard a small sound from the room, but there was no movement after it.

“Hi?”

This reply came with absolutely no lead up, and it startled Hornet.

“Who is this?” She whispered back. 

“...I think that question is better suited to you.” they said back.

“This is Hornet.” she murmured.

She hears a sudden sigh from the other side. “Thank god. I guess you weren’t caught.”

“I wasn’t.” She says back. “I’m here to get you out.”

“...Two breakouts in the span of three days? You’re outdoing yourself.” PK replies after a moment. “Besides, it’s not like I really want to leave just yet.”

“This isn’t about whether you want to or not.” Hornet says bluntly. “This is because we’re about to go after the Radiance and I need you to make sure you’re on board with the plan.”

He doesn’t say anything.

“I need to ask you things too.” She continues. “Like what happened while we were in Hallownest. Why’s the city in lockdown? And don’t you want to see the Hollow Knight?”

She can hear his shallow breathing on the other side of the door.

“Yeah.” He says. “But I… I don’t know about the Radiance.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean--” he sighs. “Listen, if you’re going to get me out of here, I can tell you everything once we’re out. Okay?”

“That means you’re going to have to cooperate.”

“Of course. I’m not going to risk getting you caught.” 

Hornet stands up. “Can you open the door from your side?”

“No.” he says. “You’re going to have to pick the lock or break the handle, and if you do the latter we’re going to have to get out fast, because there’s someone sleeping in here with me.”

She breathes a sigh of exasperation. “I tried picking the lock. It didn’t work.”

She hears her dad huff indignantly. “Then try hitting the handle downward. I can probably force the door open if you do that.”

Hornet slowly pulls her needle out from behind her back. She places the hilt of it on the doorknob, and taps the door as a warning to PK. Roughly, she brings the hilt down on the handle, and the handle bends abruptly downward. The sound of the doorknob breaking reverberates down the halls, and she hears a snorting sound from the inside of PK’s room.

“Go on!” Hornet hisses, and stands away from the door. On the other side, the Pale King backs up and rams his shoulder into the door, breaking it open and making a loud sound. 

“The nurses are quick.” PK hisses, his eyes boring onto Hornet. He’s wearing a white, two piece suit that is very hospital-esque. His eyes dart towards the stairwell. “Come on.”

The two of them sprint down the hallway and Hornet yanks the door open. There’s a small window on the other side of the stairwell, and Hornet wouldn’t have thought to go through it, but PK runs straight towards it and unlocks it with ease.

“That’s a three story drop.” She comments.

“Well then you can carry me down.” He starts to climb through. “The nurses will be coming up through this stairwell. We have to leave now.”

Hornet looks down the stairwell, and a door bursts open at the bottom floor.

“Come on!” PK urges. Hornet walks to the window and places her feet out. She wraps one arm around her dad, whose eyes are trained on the stairwell.

“Drop!” He hisses, and Hornet does, sliding down a filament of spider silk all the way to the ground. Somebody pops their head out of the window, and PK gasps. He drops from Hornet’s arms onto the ground below and begins to sprint. He motions frantically for her to follow him, and she does, sprinting along the side of the building. When they’re out of sight, PK slows down and starts to pant.

“Out of shape, I see?” Hornet chuckles, her voice back to her normal speaking voice. The Pale King laughs.

“That’s what’ll happen to you if you spend years in a hospital being taken care of.” He stands up straight and looks around. “Where are we going?”

“Ghost and Hollow are hiding in an alleyway not too far from here.” Hornet begins to walk down the side of the building again. “In the meantime, do you mind telling me what the hell happened while we were underground?”

PK takes a deep breath. “The Radiance happened.”

Hornet continues walking, but her eyebrows are furrowed. “And?”

He placed a hand behind his neck and fixed a crick in his neck. “The nurses put the news on today and… I saw some crazy shit go down. Apparently the police went to check out an anonymous tip about someone who had taken up residence in an apartment that wasn’t theirs. Turns out that person was the Goddess of Light, and you and I know more than anyone that attempting to fight the Goddess of Light isn’t a good idea.”

“Unless you have no choice.” Hornet finished.

“Unless you have no choice.” The King sighed. “Anyway, they had a whole helicopter go out there and she deflected two missiles with light blasts. The second missile they fired caused the whole block to light up. Not in fire, you know, but in blinding white light. There’s 18 confirmed casualties and 15 in critical condition. I’m honestly surprised it wasn’t more.”

Hornet leads PK out into the street and across toward one of the alleyways.

“Well no wonder the city is in lockdown.” Hornet mutters.

“Obviously they didn’t find her.” PK continues. “She disappeared right after the block was enveloped by light.”

“I don’t suppose you know where she is?” Hornet asked, running up to the end of the alleyway.

“I have a hunch.” He said. “But if it’s right, it’s a miracle you didn’t run into her on your way here.”

Hornet looks back at him. “What do you mean?”

PK sighs. “The police have been patrolling everywhere for the last few hours. Chances are they’ve been up and down these alleyways. Unless someone let the Radiance in, which is unlikely, since her face has been on the news all day, there’s only one place I know she could go.”

Hornet ponders this. “You don’t mean Hallownest, do you?”

“I do.” PK murmurs. “But I don’t know how she would have found the entrance.”

“Does anyone know other than you?”

“I don’t think so.” PK looks out onto the street. “Why are you so determined to find her anyways?”

“Why do you think?” Hornet mutters. “Ghost merged with the Kingsoul down in Hallownest. They have the capability to fight her once more alongside the Hollow Knight.”

He looks down at the floor. “I mean, yes, I suppose so.” 

“There’s no other way.” Hornet says. “If there was, I would take it, but it’s our only option.”

“I’m just thinking about the future.” PK sighs, leaning against the wall. “I’m sure the Radiance remembers how she was defeated centuries ago. She’s not dumb. She’ll learn from her mistakes. Now I don’t know about Ghost, but they’re not going to be able to use the same methods they used long ago. She’s learned.”

“I can train them.” Hornet says. “I can show them how to fight differently.”

“I don’t think you get this.” He says. “Even if you do manage to defeat her again, she’ll come back. It might take another few centuries, but she’ll be back. She’ll be back every time. She will be back again and again, perpetually, reincarnated.”

Hornet and him make eye contact. 

“I know you don’t want that.” PK says. “You have the strongest will of anyone I know, but not even you want to force yourself to live forever, just to continue repeatedly fighting her every few centuries.”

Hornet doesn’t have an answer to this.

“And eventually she’ll win.” He shrugs. “Because as strong as your will is, it is nothing compared to her power. It’s nothing compared to her will.”

Hornet scoffs. “So I should just let her infect the whole city?”

He crosses his arms. “I’m just saying that there has to be another way.”

“There isn’t.”

“There has to be.” He insists. “There has to be a way to defeat her permanently.”

The two of them sit in silence for a moment.

“You should see your child.” Hornet murmurs. She hears her father swallow. “They’re just across the street.”

The two of them look out into the street, which is entirely darkened. They wait for a moment, and then run across the street into the next alleyway. PK starts wandering around the alley, searching for his child. He walks off to the left, out of Hornet’s eyesight, and she hears him utter a small gasp.

The Hollow Knight, kneeling on the ground next to Ghost, looks up and makes eye contact with the Pale King. He walks over to them, slowly, and touches their face tenderly. He pulls off their sunglasses and looks into their eyes, one of them dripping with infection.

“What happened to you?” PK swallows. Standing up, PK was only barely taller than the Hollow Knight kneeling down. Hollow had expected for the King to be repulsed by him, disappointed in his creation’s failure, but the only thing they could see in his eyes was relief. 

The Pale King wasn’t sure what to think as he looked into his child’s eyes. Long ago, he might have been disappointed that they weren’t able to hold the Radiance for longer, but now, they were only relieved they were alright. He had missed him, that’s for sure, but he didn’t think that their reunion would be like this.

PK slowly put his arms around Hollow. The vessel didn’t react to this display of affection— in fact, they started to feel some sort of anger. It was the Radiance’s influence, surely, but it was anger at the Pale King for leaving him to fight her all alone. They saw the Pale King differently now, differently than they did centuries ago. They had seen him as almost godlike then, but right now, all they saw was a broken man, a man who had given up long ago and left his daughter to carry on his legacy.

Hollow could hear their father’s heart beating against their chest. He was shaking a little, and Hollow suddenly leaned into him, holding him still. They still didn't know how to react. They wanted to say something to him, but they had no words. Tears started to fall down the Pale King’s cheeks.

Behind them, Ghost and Hornet met each other’s eyes.


	23. The Alliance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance and the Nightmare King return to Hallownest to wait for the city to return to normal.

With the Radiance now fully manifested within the Forgotten Crossroads, it had made a definitive transformation from the Forgotten Crossroads to the Infected Crossroads. To the Radiance, this was a glorious change, for it was only a matter of time before the infection would start to leak into the city above. To Grimm, however, the infected Crossroads made him highly unsettled.

“Now that we’re here…” The Radiance began, turning to Grimm after taking a good look at her work. “How long do you plan on staying here?”

“Until everyone calms down up there.” Grimm says. “Can we please take a walk? At least, to somewhere other than the Crossroads. The… sheer amount of infection around here isn’t pleasing to my eyes.”

“Well… you better get used to it, because soon it will be everywhere.” The Radiance’s eyes dart around the room again.

“The more this spreads, the more insane you start to get.” Grimm sighs, walking towards the door on the left. “Truly.”

“I don’t get more insane.” She retorts, following him. “It’s simply exhilarating to see everything fall into place. See, this was all just a minor setback to me regaining my Kingdom.”

The Troupe Master doesn’t say anything.

“Where are you planning on taking me?” The Radiance pondered. “We should stay slightly close to the entrance, just so that we can leave when all’s calmed down.”

“I honestly don’t care, as long as it isn’t the crossroads.” Grimm enters the Crossroad’s shaft, and stares down to the bottom. “What’s your favorite place in Hallownest?”

The Radiance plants herself next to him, and stares down as well. “I’ve always liked the Queen’s Gardens. After all, it was where the exiled Mantis Warriors decided to take up residence.”

Grimm glances over at her. “Remind me what happened to them.”

“Oh…” She sighs, and watches as Grimm turns into a small bat and soars down to the bottom of the shaft. She follows, and regroups with him down at the bottom. “The Mantis Lords. What prideful creatures they were. Such strong wills. Most of them remained in the mantis village located in the fungal wastes, but there were a few— they called them traitors— that succumbed to my influence because they wished to grow stronger, and they knew my power could give that to them.”

Grimm considers this as the two of them walk into another room. “And… they did this on purpose?”

“They’re the only ones who ever did so on purpose.” She answers. “I’ve found that once my subjects find themselves under my influence, they rather enjoy it.”

“Because they can’t think otherwise.” He scowls. 

“Do you ever think that perhaps that’s for the better?” Radi suggests. “Mortal beings don’t know how to use free will. They don’t consider the future. Often, it’s because of their free will that they’re unhappy.”

“But they can’t be happy without free will.” Grimm considers.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She smiles. “Without free will, my subjects are always happy.”

He considers this as the two of them vanish and reappear on the other side of an acid pool. They head down into Fog Canyon, narrowly avoiding the explosive jellyfish on their way down. 

“Haven’t you realized that there can’t be happiness without there first being unhappiness?” Grimm proposed. “It’s like… there can’t be light without first darkness.”

The Radiance doesn’t answer this. She continues down a pathway to the teacher’s archives.

“Condemning someone to eternal happiness is the same as condemning them to eternal suffering.” He ponders.

“You’re not making any sense.” She retorts, irritated.

“Think about it.” He shrugs. “If you’ve only ever known happiness, and you don’t know what suffering is, the feeling of happiness itself becomes meaningless. Same with suffering.”

He hears Radi let out a low growl.

“You can’t know true happiness if you haven’t first known suffering.” He explains. The two of them drop into the area outside the Teacher’s Archives. “And you can’t understand suffering if you haven’t experienced happiness.

The Radiance suddenly whips around to face the Troupe Master. “Nightmare King. I’m offering a balance. If you can’t understand my goals then just stay out of my way. You can’t change my mind, so stop trying to.”

“I’m just saying.” Grimm replies, his face entirely calm. “I’m fine with your goals. Just… stop trying to justify them by saying they’re for the greater good of humanity.”

The Radiance grabs his shirt collar aggressively, with some intent to hurt him, but lets go of him before she says anything. “Quit acting like you know what’s good for humanity.”

“I know what’s good for humanity just as much as you.” He replies, walking out of the archives and into another deep shaft in the canyon. 

“Then you and I know the same amount that if humanity keeps going the way it is then they’ll destroy the planet by the end of the century, and if I’m defeated again, I’ll have nothing to return to.” She says. “You know what I’m talking about. You have to notice the difference in air quality up there than down here.”

The Radiance follows Grimm through the shaft and across a lake of acid to the Queen’s Gardens. He takes a deep breath once they’re on the other side and looks at her.

“If they turn to me, I’ll be able to save this planet before it’s too late.” She mutters.

“But does the fate of the planet really matter if they don’t have free will?”

She looks back at him. “Humanity isn’t the only thing that matters. Once they destroy the planet, they won’t only wipe out themselves, but they’ll wipe out all other life as well. They’re selfish, and because of that, they can’t handle free will.”

Grimm doesn’t respond. He follows the Radiance into the Queen’s Gardens, and watches as her eyes gaze over all of the plant and animal life crawling around.

“Ah…” she begins, walking into another area. This room is decently narrow, with passageways leading into the ceiling and the floor. At the end of the hallway, there’s a man, hovering in between the passageways. They have two pairs of fluttery wings, ones that characterize younger mantis warriors, and a pair of antennae atop their head. Their eyes are orange from the infection, and they seem very docile, at least in the Radiance’s presence.

“A Mantis Warrior.” She sighs, walking up to them. “One of the ones who gave their allegiance to me long ago. They seem to have stayed loyal.”

“Not like they had a choice.” Grimm murmurs, his voice still calm.

“They might have.” Radi replies. “Don’t you know that my influence became weaker after my defeat against that vessel? It lingered, obviously, but there’s a possibility that it became weak enough for these Mantis Traitors, as they’re called, to break free. Their wills are strong, as you know, being from the Mantis Tribe.”

Grimm looks up at the hovering warrior. Its stare is blank, and Grimm sees nothing behind its soulless eyes.

“How long do you say we should spend down here?” The Radiance turns back to him. “I should probably get back soon.”

“Knowing the kind of people in that city…” Grimm mutters, crossing his arms, “The lockdown will probably be over by next morning. If there’s no apparent threat, people start to get impatient. They start to say that the government can’t tell them what to do.”

“How brainless of them.” She scoffs. “At this rate, you really start to wonder what they did to deserve free will.”

“Not all of them are like that.” Grimm shrugs, following the Radiance up the ceiling passageway. “I’ve met quite a few decent people up there.”

“In your profession?” Radi raises an eyebrow at him. 

“My field is more professional and respectful than you would expect.” He continues to gaze up at the plant life. “After all, you did meet my friend Victor.”

“I didn’t think highly of him.” She grumbles.

“Of course you wouldn’t,” Is all he says.

The two of them spend a decent amount of time in the Queen’s Gardens. The Radiance spends her time walking around, checking up on the Mantis Warriors, and analyzing her own fighting and movement style. She was already strong enough to fight anyone she came across, but it was never a bad idea to think it over, and think of ways to improve.

Grimm spent his time taking a nap. He had found a particularly soft bed of moss in a very green area of the Gardens, and he had laid down to rest. He had expected the moss to be uncomfortable, after becoming so used to his bed on the surface, but it was unusually peaceful. The soft rustling of the leaves all around him quickly put him into a trance, and he found himself drifting off into a delicate, silent dream. Unlike the Radiance, the Troupe Master had always felt more comfortable in more man made structures, and not nature. Not that he didn’t like nature— in fact, he preferred a delicate balance between the two— he simply liked the comfort of man made structures. It surprised him how much he liked this bed of moss, and how much he enjoyed being in the Gardens. And the Radiance was right. There was a difference between the air in Hallownest and the air in the city above. 

Before he knew it, he was being shaken awake.

“Grimm.” He heard the Radiance’s voice from above. He opened his eyes, and she stood directly over him. “We can probably go now.”

He narrows his eyes. “How long has it been?”

“I’m not quite sure.” She mutters. “But I can sense light on the surface above.”

“Have I been sleeping for over 24 hours?” He sits up. “I find that hard to believe.”

“No, definitely not.” She reaches out her hand to pull him up. “It’s been… five hours at most. It was... probably way less.”

“...Then it makes no sense to go up there.”

“But it’s the next day.” She says.

Grimm narrows his eyes. “No it’s not.”

“I can sense that it’s light out up there.” She insists. “I sensed it on our way down here, and then it went dark, and now I sense it again.”

Grimm blinked. “But… that would mean…”

“That time passes slower down here than it does up there.” She finishes. “It’s not completely out of the question. Once Hallownest was sealed off, it’s possible it could have become some sort of different realm.”

He crosses his arms and takes a deep breath. “I… don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t need to say anything.” She says. “Just come with me to the entrance.”

Grimm shakes his head and follows the Radiance up and out of the Gardens into Greenpath. The trek across Greenpath is long, but with Radi’s wings and Grimm’s transformation ability, the journey is shortened considerably. From Greenpath, the two of them head to the forgotten Crossroads, and it’s not too much further until they reach the exit.

“You don’t suppose anyone will see us leaving?” The Radiance asks as she unfurls her wings and soars up towards the doorway.

“It’s a valid concern.” Grimm mutters, reappearing next to her. He walks forward and shoves open the hidden entrance, and gestures for the Radiance to follow him. 

“We’ll just have to hope for the best.” He shrugs as they crawl out from under the truck. He walks over to the elevator shaft, and looks up into it. He pushes the button on the inside, and the first door above opens. 

“Shit.” Grimm mutters, pressing the button again. The door closes. He turns to the Radiance, and starts to rummage through his pockets for some sunglasses. He comes up empty, and looks over at her. “You’re gonna have to just bow your head when we walk out, because your face is gonna be so well known…” He taps his leg. “We should probably get back to my apartment… but it’ll be hard to get you through security. No, impossible.”

“I can fly up there.” She suggests.

“In the light of day?” He says, scoffing. “You’ll be seen.”

“It seems to be the safest option.” She replies. “How about you go out right now and get to your apartment, and then I meet up with you. How long do you think it will take to get there?”

“Well, if I fly…” He places his hand on the button again. “Probably 20 minutes.”

“Then I’ll wait that long and then come out and fly to your window. And I’ll be careful, I promise.” 

Grimm nods and then takes a deep breath. He presses the button and turns into a bat to fly out into the sunlight. The door closes after a few seconds, and Radi is left in the darkness. She waits for twenty minutes, until she presses the button and climbs up out of the elevator shaft. The sunlight is streaming through the windows, and luckily, there’s no one around. Also surprisingly, there’s no police guarding the area either. It’s like they abandoned the mission to catch Hornet and the Hollow Knight. It didn’t matter. It was a relief to the Radiance.

She pulls the hood over her head and steps out into the sunlight. She’s hunched over severely and her legs are bent to decrease her height. Everyone else is too busy to pay her any attention.

She peeks one eye out at the street and spots the nearest alleyway, which she discreetly shuffles into. She runs down the alley and takes a right, into a tight spot where no one can see her. Adjusting her hoodie, she unfurls her wings and looks to the sky. It takes one soft soaring motion to bring her into the air and up to the roof. She clings onto the edge before climbing all the way onto the roof, and looks up into the sky. She takes a deep breath at the sight.

At least four different helicopters are in her line of sight. They’re certainly looking for her, and they certainly all know that she can fly. This makes the route much more difficult.

Radi wasn’t quite sure how they’d be able to distinguish her from up there, but she didn’t want to find out. Chances are they had decent zoom lenses up there, but she knew that if they were using them, it also meant their field of view had been diminished. She took this into account.

Her eyes bored onto Grimm’s apartment building, and then back up to the helicopters. If she took a straight shot towards it, two of the helicopters would be a problem. One of them was circling the building itself, and the other was on the way. If she managed to make it up nearer to the helicopters themselves, then she could fly easily past the one on her way, and then wait for the circling helicopter to go behind the building so she could get into Grimm’s window.

She decided to take a leap of faith, and shoot right up into the sky. She soared up high for a long time, until she found herself above the helicopter in her way. She was quick to fly over it, but she kept an eye on the people inside. They all seemed to be looking down, and like she expected, they were using telescope-like devices.

Her eyes turned to the next helicopter, circling the building. Grimm’s window was only slightly below where the helicopter currently was, so when it turned the corner, she would be out of its line of sight.

Once it had turned, she crossed her arms over her heart and darted down towards the window, her wings folded. She landed roughly on the window with a loud thunk, and she heard a loud “fuck!” From inside. Grimm yanked back the curtains and opened the window.

“I just got the other one fixed, don’t break this one!” He yelled over the wind. “Get rid of your wings, for Christ’s sake!”

The Radiance retracted her wings and climbed in through the window, landing on all fours. The Troupe Master shut the window quickly and drew the curtains again.

“Scared the shit out of me.” He hissed, turning towards her. She had just begun to stand up, and brush off her pants. 

“Now what’s your plan?” She asked, rolling her shoulders. 

“Well, I was planning on getting a drink and watching a movie, unless you’re opposed to that.” He scoffed. The Radiance thought for a moment.

“I want to take care of that bastard who ratted me out to the police.” She muttered.

“That’s not gonna happen.” Grimm rolled his eyes, walking over into his kitchen and looking through his wine cupboard. “If you plan on going back out there any time soon, the first thing we’ve gotta do is dye and cut your hair, and then throw a shitton of makeup on.”

“I’m not doing that.”

“That’s not yours to choose.” He says, picking out a full bottle of white wine. “If you don’t want to get taken in, that’s what you have to do. You’re too suspicious with that hoodie and sunglasses. You look like a shifty burglar.”

She scoffs, and sits on the arm of the couch. “Fine.”

“But if we’re doing that, we’re doing that tomorrow.” He says, sitting down on the couch next to her. “I need a break.”

“You’re a thousand year old god. You don’t need a break, you want one.” She corrects. “Gods, this life on earth has changed you, hasn’t it?”

Grimm ignores her. “I was in the middle of this show on Netflix. Can’t remember what it was called, but it was pretty fun—“

There’s a sharp knock at the door, and both of their heads snap towards it.

“Bathroom. In my room.” Grimm says immediately, standing up. “Lock the door.”

“Who is it?” She asks, suddenly annoyed.

“Fuck if I know!” He hisses. “Go!”

She rolls her eyes and walks quietly over into his bedroom.

Grimm had no idea it would be this much work to house a mass murderer. He was going to lose his mind if her sour attitude continued for much longer.

He opened the door to find Victor in the doorframe.

“Thank god.” He sighed. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you. You must have seen on the news— your _friend_ or whatever killed a bunch of the police and they’re wanted all over the place now. I wanted to make sure you’re okay.”

Grimm didn’t quite know how to respond to this. Victor was definitely the one person who he didn’t mind if he found out about this, but he wasn’t sure if he really wanted to say anything.

“Victor…” he started. “I appreciate it, but I’m fine. In fact, I predicted this.”

“Then why didn’t you stop it?” He said, suddenly angry. “A bunch of innocent lives could have been saved.”

He sighed again. “It’s… complicated. It’s not my place to interfere.”

“Who gives a shit!” He grabbed his arms and shook him. “You need to drop this and tell that woman to calm down or I just might lose it with you.”

“That’s enough.” The Nightmare King growls. His voice is low and steady, and his eyes flash at his words. “You don’t understand the forces at play here.”

For the first time, Victor feels fear in the pit of his stomach. Something he never felt before while talking to Grimm. “I’ll give you to the police.”

Grimm forced himself to relax. “I’m sorry.” He steps out of the way and holds the door open. “Come inside and I… well, _we_ can tell you what happened.”

Victor waits for a moment until stepping inside cautiously. “Who’s we?” 

“What the hell, Grimm?” The Radiance says from behind the bedroom wall. “There was nothing stopping you from letting him leave.”

Victor looks over at the troupe master, who’s closing the door behind him. “Jesus.”

“Are you in the middle of a session?” Victor asks, his eyes widening. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to barge—“

“How many times do I have to tell people that I don’t want to bang my fucking brother—“ Radi growls as she rounds the corner, her eyes flashing. “Look at this. Now he knows too much. There’s only one way to fix that—“

“Quiet, Radi.” Grimm hisses. He turns to Victor, who’s standing stock still in the middle of the apartment. His eyes dart in between the two higher beings standing in front of him. 

“You…you…” he sputters, looking at Grimm. “You’re helping her?”

“I’m trying to avoid any more unnecessary deaths.”

“Then you really shouldn’t have brought him in here.” Radi sneers, crossing her arms. “Don’t worry. You won’t really die. It’s just a—“

“Ignore her.” Grimm mutters, steering his friend over to the couch. “Would you like some wine?”

“Are you shitting me?” He breathes, looking over at the Radiance. “Why would you—“

“I lied, by the way.” Grimm interrupts. “I did intervene. If I didn’t, the death toll would have no doubt tripled.” He pours two glasses and hands one to Victor. “And there’s a simple explanation as to why I’m not handing her over to the police.”

“Oh, okay then.” He rolls his eyes, taking a large sip of wine. “Why don’t you elaborate then? Why don’t you turn in the mass murderer?”

“Because…” Grimm sighs, sitting across from him, “It’s not like the police can do anything about her. She is far too powerful for any amount of police officers to overwhelm her. Turning her in would just cause more violence.”

Victor doesn’t have a response to this. It makes complete sense.

“Wonderful.” The Radiance exclaims from behind him. “It seems I’m getting sick from watching you two sitting together in this area, since all I can recall is your one night stand. So how about you leave so that _I_ can focus on strengthening my influence.”

“Radi…” The Nightmare King sighs. “Can’t you just be considerate for once in your life?”

“I’ve tried. It’s not very efficient.” She replies. “But fine. I’ll sit quietly in your bathroom for an hour, and when I come out, _he_ better be gone.”

“Okay.”

“Good.”

Victor watched as the Radiance left the room and closed the bathroom door behind her. He couldn’t help but realize that the way they talked to each other was, in fact, very similar to the way he spoke to his sister when he was younger.

“Damn.” Grimm mutters. “Sometimes I forget that I’m the god of Nightmares, and I think it’s her.”

Victor still wasn’t used to the fact that his colleague was a god. That was the kind of fact that doesn’t sink in easily.

“She’s terrifying.” Victor takes a deep breath. “The TV didn’t do her justice.”

“Of course it didn’t.” Grimm leans back in his chair. “And you haven’t seen her at her prime yet. You will soon, I promise, but… it’s an impressive sight.”

“I thought you were her brother.”

“Sort of.” He shrugs. “We’re compliments. And because of that, she’s bound to annoy the hell out of me.”

Victor looks down at the floor. “Might I ask how she got like that? How she got so… violent?”

Grimm closed his eyes and took a deep breath. What a long story.


	24. The Godseeker

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Pale King and Hornet are visited by a strange woman.

“Uhhhhmmmm… sir. Hey. You awake?”

The Pale King felt himself getting shaken awake by someone. His eyes fluttered open, and he looked up at them.

“What’s…” he rubbed his eyes, looking around. He immediately recognized the Hollow Knight, disguised, in front of him, and the other vessel was leaning against them. Hornet was lying against the wall as well, her eyes shut in a peaceful sleep.

“You’re not allowed to be here.” The man looking at him from above said. “I mean, I get it, if you’ve been kicked out of your apartment after whatever happened over there, but I can’t let you stay here.”

PK looked over at Hornet, and then back up at the man. “Of course, I’m sorry. We’ll be gone in ten minutes tops.”

He nods. “Okay. I’ll be back to make sure you’re gone.”

“That’s fine.” The man turns and walks back into the door to PK’s right. immediately, he stands up and walks over to tap Hornet’s shoulder. She stirs.

“Ugh…” she groans, her eyes prying themselves open. “What… what happened?”

“You fell asleep.” The Pale King says. “And… so did the Hollow Knight. Didn’t think they could to be honest but--” he shakes his head. “You seemed so tired, so I didn’t wake you.”

Hornet stared at him. “You… You’re damn lucky we weren’t found.”

“Yeah, well-- yeah.” He says, deciding against telling her about the guy who woke him. He holds out his hand and Hornet takes it, standing up.

“We need to get you a disguise.” She mutters. “My apartment is pretty far away, but we can get there in probably an hour if we hurry.”

He nods. Hornet walks over to wake up both of the vessels, and as they stand up, she looks back at the Pale King. “You’re still wearing that hospital getup.”

He looks down at himself. “It’s not that bad.”

“Yes it is. You look like an escapee-- which you are, but that’s--” she huffs, and looks to the Hollow Knight. “Maybe you could carry him?”

“What?” PK asks, furrowing his eyebrows.

“I was thinking that Hollow could hide you in their jacket.” she says. “Then you’d just look like their stomach.”

His mouth is slightly ajar. “Uhm, I don’t think so.”

Hornet rolls her eyes. “Hollow, pick him up.”

“No, I don’t--” PK feels the Hollow Knight pick him up effortlessly and cradle him at his chest. “This is not…”

“Yes, we’re doing that.” she says. “You don’t even need to walk. Stop complaining.”

He looks over at her, his eyes narrowed. He doesn’t say anything, and Hollow goes to zip up the jacket. When the zipper is up, they cradle the mass at their stomach like a baby. Hornet hears him grumble.

“I don’t condone this.” he mutters. His daughter smiles, and looks up at Hollow and then down at Ghost.

“Follow me and keep yourselves looking inconspicuous.” She whispers, gesturing for her siblings to follow her into the street. Hornet weaves easily through the crowd, and Ghost is at her heels, but the Hollow Knight is falling behind. His sister continually looks back at them, but they keep moving further and further back. After walking a few blocks, Hornet turns into an empty alleyway and waits for the Hollow Knight to catch up.

“You having trouble with this?” Hornet asks as they turn in. Hollow shakes their head, but their jacket starts to move. She sees one pale hand reach out of Hollow’s jacket, and start to grasp at the zipper. Hornet walks forward and zips down the jacket. The Pale King gasps for breath and moves his legs to jump down onto the ground.

“It’s so hot in there.” He breathes. 

“We’re not even a quarter way there.” Hornet sighs. “I didn’t even know Hollow produced body heat.” 

“I do!” PK scoffed. “I’m just… melting over here.”

Hornet rolls her eyes and turns her head away from her dad, tapping her feet.

“Hey!”

Someone calls from the alleyway entrance. Hornet turns around sharply, trying to take a glance past the Hollow Knight. She gently nudges them out of the way, and she sees a figure standing there, their face in shadow.

“Are you who I’ve been looking for?” They ask. Hornet notices the voice is female, and looks down at the Pale King, standing next to her.

“Who are you?” Hornet calls back, still standing in a defensive stance.

The woman walks towards them, and her face is uncovered as she walks closer. She stops about five feet away from the group, and begins to study them.

“You…” She raises one hand, and places it out in front of her. She seems speechless. All things considered, she looked relatively normal— she was a decent height, with shoulder length black hair and strikingly bright golden eyes. She was dressed in a dark blue suit with a dull golden shirt collar and black heels— She looked somewhat like a secretary, with her good posture, her nicely styled hair, and sleek suit. 

“You’re the ones!” Her smile grows wider, and so do her eyes. “Oh, gods.”

Hornet had suddenly become very confused. “The ones?”

“Yes! I—“ she covers her mouth and chuckles. “So sorry, I—“ she takes a deep breath and bows deeply. “I— We— welcome thy return to us.”

Hornet blinks. “Who are you?”

“I— I have been living undercover here for a while, waiting patiently for the return of the God of Light. I am a Godseeker.” She introduces, standing up straight again. 

The Pale King lets out a small exhale. “I’ve heard of you.”

“Yes!” She says, turning to him. “I’m sure thou have. After all, thine lingering presence was what led us to Hallownest in the first place, long ago. I only just sensed thine presence again yesterday evening, as clear as day.”

Hornet and her dad make eye contact, both sharing a look of caution. “Then… you’re part of Hallownest then, are you not?” He asks.

“I’m part of everything.” She says, taking a step forward. “But yes, I do know of the Kingdom of Hallownest. The Gods’ presence in Hallownest is denser than anywhere else in the world. It’s because of this that we spend most of our time near it.”

The Pale King crosses his arms. “So… you’re not our enemy?”

“Thine enemy?” The Godseeker stands up straighter. “Of course not. We seek out the gods because we must, because we revere their power. We worship and respect all of them, and we do not meddle in thine holy affairs.”

Hornet takes a glance down at her father, before looking back at the Godseeker. “Come closer.”

The Godseeker perks up, and walks over to Hornet. “Princess of Deepnest. Daughter of Herrah and the Pale Wyrm, Protector of Hallownest. It is an honor.” She gets on one knee and places her hands on the floor, looking up into her eyes.

Hornet blinks. She’s rather stunned by this reaction. “I don’t…” She watches as the Godseeker rises again and kneels in front of the Pale King. Although, it looks less like kneeling and more like a parent trying to talk to their child.

“The Great Pale King.” She says, her eyes boring into him. “Thy presence is what led us to Hallownest, and what led us to meet here today. Thine accomplishments are revered among us.”

It had been a very long time since the Pale King heard himself spoken to like that. He couldn’t deny that he missed it. He had always enjoyed being looked up to.

The Godseeker stood up once more and walked over to the Hollow Knight, who dwarfed her. She still kneeled in front of them, and placed her hands on the ground. “The noble Hollow Knight, the once esteemed Pure Vessel. Thine abilities outshine all but the God of Light herself.”

And finally, she stood and kneeled down in front of Ghost, and her golden eyes pierced the dark abyss in Ghost’s eyes. “The Ghost of Hallownest. The Knight who vanquished the God of Light centuries ago. Thou have not changed since then…”

“I found them a few years ago.” Hornet interrupts. “They don’t remember much from their past lifetime.”

“Of course.” The Godseeker stands up again. “It is a shame.”

“Listen--” Hornet starts, “It’s been nice meeting you, but I’m sure you know that we’re looking for the Radiance, and we’re on the run from the police, so we kind of have to go.”

“That’s precisely the reason I was looking for thee.” She clasps her hands together. “Come with me. We can provide thee with everything thou may need in the course of the next few days. We would be honored to.”

Hornet glanced to PK, who tapped his foot on the ground for a moment. It was very clear this woman was from Hallownest, otherwise she would have no idea who exactly they were. The Pale King figured it would be fine to go with her, since she seemed entirely genuine, and the Radiance worked alone, so it wasn’t likely she was with her.

“Of course.” He replies slowly, his eyes boring into hers. “But you know who you’re dealing with if you pull something.”

The Godseeker tries to hide her excitement. “Please, follow me.”

Hornet nods to her siblings to follow her out of the alleyway. Her eyes adjust to the light as she steps out of the shadows, and watches as the Godseeker walks up to a car parked on the side of the road. It’s a black, family-sized SUV, which was rather unusual for a city car, but Hornet didn’t question it. The Godseeker walks around to the passenger side of the car, and the backseat doors slide open. Hornet leads the Hollow Knight and Ghost into the car, and they crawl to the back and sit down, Hollow folded awkwardly into the seat. The Pale King hops up and sits behind the passenger seat, before Hornet finally jumps in and sits down in the seat behind the driver.

The doors shut closed, and the driver looks back at PK. He’s a younger man with interesting facial hair that doesn’t quite suit him. 

“Who the hell are these people?” He mutters, turning to the Godseeker like Hornet or PK can’t hear him.

“Quiet, Roberto.” The Godseeker hisses. “Just drive. And don’t speak about our guests that way.”

The man gives a quick huff of indignation before putting the car in drive and drifting down the street. There’s a moment of silence, only broken by the quiet shuffling of Hollow in his seat behind Hornet.

“Where are you taking us?” The Pale King asks, his feet only barely scraping the car floor.

“To a place fit for your kind.” The Godseeker replies. “We spare no expense for guests such as yourselves.”

PK doesn’t say anything else, and instead looks out the car window. All of them sit in silence for the rest of the ride. Hornet lets her mind wander, thinking about what the Pale King said earlier about another solution. She still firmly believed there was no other way, but her father seemed adamant on finding one. She didn’t want to go against him, and perhaps he knew something she didn’t, but it didn’t change the fact that this was the only way, at least currently.

The car grinded to a halt outside a hotel building. It looked decently well taken care of, but Hornet had a feeling this wasn’t exactly where the Godseeker was planning on taking them.

The four of them climbed out of the car as the door on PK’s side slid open. The Godseeker nodded stiffly to the driver once they were all out, and he drove away promptly once she began to walk towards the building.

“I recommend you all hide your faces as we enter.” She advises, placing her hand on the door handle. PK bows his head and shoves his hands into his pockets, and the Hollow Knight puts their hood up as she opens the door.

There’s a young woman at the front desk, typing eagerly on the computer. She waves towards the Godseeker as the five of them walk past her into the hallway. She takes a right into the stairwell and walks down the stairs until she reaches the bottom, which is entirely empty. Hornet furrows her eyebrows in confusion as the Godseeker turns around to the blank wall next to the stairwell and looks back at them.

“Watch closely.” She says, walking forward, straight into the wall. Instead of walking into it, however, she walks through it, and disappears with a dull golden glow remaining from where she entered.

“She’s gone to the Dream Realm.” The Pale King says. “There’s a gateway here.” 

So we’re not going to run into the wall?” Hornet asks. She was the only one out of all of them who had never been to the Dream Realm before. 

“You have to know there’s a gateway here to enter.” He says. “So unless you’re told, or saw, you can’t get in. That’s probably why nobody has found this place.”

He glances back at Hornet before walking into the wall and vanishing. The Hollow Knight and Ghost follow soon after. Hornet rolls her shoulders forward and steps inside a few seconds after.

For a moment, she feels like she’s floating, until the sensation stops, and she reappears on a marble floor, surrounded by a glowing circle of light at her feet. When she looks up, her jaw drops.

The room she’s in is huge. So huge, in fact, that there aren't any visible walls or ceiling. In front of her, there’s two giant hot springs that span for as far as she can see— The steam rising from a waterfall at the end is what forms the closest thing to a wall. Huge pillars stem from the very top of the clouds to the floor, which is curved into an elegant shape that drops off at a sharp cliff, leading to more clouds that coat the space beneath them. God rays shine from the ceiling down to the shiny floor, reflecting off of the water. Past the two hot springs, there’s a building that reaches into the clouds, with an elegant staircase that wraps around a pillar leading to a balcony with yet another hot spring and a bench. At the base of the building, there are multiple entrances leading into hallways, some brightly lit, and some darkened.

Hornet’s eyes finally gaze over to the people in this place. Her eyes first land on the Godseeker, whose outfit has changed entirely. She’s wearing an elegant, gold, tear-dropped shaped headpiece with navy robes that touch the floor. She’s wearing a mask that covers her eyes, and she’s standing at full attention. The rest of the people in this strange place are wearing similar attire to her— the same navy robes and similar gold headpieces and a mask that covers their eyes, but with different skin tones and body types. 

Her eyes then look to the three others she came in with, and her eyes light up. The Pale King is in his old robes and crown, what he used to wear in Hallownest. Ghost is in their Hallownest garb, but it’s spotless and perfectly taken care of. The Hollow Knight made the biggest transformation. They’re wearing their spotless white robes from before they were put into the Black Egg, back when they were known as the Pure Vessel, and not the Hollow Knight. Their hair is tied back neatly and their horns are devoid of cracks, and even stranger, their eyes were completely normal. Hornet was too shocked to notice that even she had her tunic on.

“Welcome.” The Godseeker spoke, turning around to face up to the clouds. “To Godhome.”

Hornet finally stood up and walked over to her family. Her shoes made clicking sounds as she walked across the golden floors. “Why have I never been to the Dream Realm…”

“Let us show you thine residences.” She bowed deeply to all of them before drifting slowly over to the hallways, and down a brightly lit one lined with doors.

“These would be yours.” She says, stopping next to four different doors. A small symbol appeared on each of them, signifying who belonged in each. “I’ll allow you to get settled. There’s everything you need in there.”

Hornet looked at Ghost and Hollow, and waited for a moment to nod to each of them. They both turned and entered their rooms. She looked back at the Pale King.

“It is very nice, isn’t it?” He said to her. “Much nicer than that hospital.”

“Yes, of course…” She muttered. “But we can’t let this distract us from the real problem.”

“We can take a day.” He says. “The vessel can practice a bit. It will be fine.”

Hornet watches him as he smiles and turns into his own room, closing the door behind him. She sighs, and turns to her own door.

“Princess.” The Godseeker suddenly asks. “Before you leave…”

Hornet turns back around to face the woman, her expression stoic. 

“I am aware of thy goals.” She says. “Once again, we do not meddle in the affairs of the gods, but I want to present to thee, an opportunity.”

Hornet perks up at this. “Like what?”

The Godseeker takes a deep breath. “The Pantheon of Hallownest is the highest, most esteemed challenge in Hallownest, in this city, and in the world. The power you gain from completing it is so incredibly great, that the one who can do so would be able to conquer anything they wanted. Nobody has ever completed it.”

“What are you saying?” Hornet asks.

“If one of thee could complete the Pantheon of Hallownest, all of thy wildest dreams could come true.” She continues. “It would require them to challenge every single God in Hallownest in one sitting, with very few short breaks. And at the very end, the challenger goes up against the highest God of them all, the Radiance.”

Hornet looks to the ground.

“That isn’t just it.” The Godseeker places her hands behind her back. “As the challenger rises, the God of Light gains power. By the time they reach the top, her power is unimaginable. Nobody has ever even witnessed her in this state. She would be undefeatable.”

Hornet crossed her arms.

“But… If any of you think you could do it, then she would be forced to battle you at the top.” She finishes. “Almost all higher beings know about this challenge. They never speak of it, though, because the concept of anyone being able to finish it is laughable.”

“Why are you even telling me this if it’s impossible?” Hornet sighed, somewhat annoyed.

“Is it impossible?” The Godseeker questions. “It’s certainly laughable. It’s asinine. It's a pipe dream, some would say.” She turns around and looks down the hallway. “But… you are gods, aren’t you? If that’s true… nothing is impossible.”

Hornet watches her as she walks away slowly, thinking.

“Wait!” She calls. “If the challenger fails… what happens to them?”

The Godseeker glances back at her. “For any normal human being, failing means death. For a being such as them…” she trails off, clearly referring to Ghost, “If they failed, they wouldn’t return, not like they usually do. They wouldn’t return as a shade. They wouldn’t return at all. They would be destroyed. I know you found them again centuries after their victory against the God of Light… but that wouldn’t happen if they failed in this case. The Pantheon of Hallownest is an Ultimatum. One completes it, or dies, permanently.”

Hornet swallows, crossing her arms. The Godseeker turns away again and walks back down the Hallway. Her mind is numb, completely paralyzed by this new information. 

For once, she had a choice, and she was resolved to not fuck this up.


	25. The Confrontation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance attempts to hide from the police.

The Radiance had spent the night at Grimm’s place, in honor of his request. She didn’t particularly enjoy sitting next to Grimm while he slowly drained a bottle of wine and watched episode after episode of the office, but she did have a slight inclination to heed his advice. Despite what others might think, she didn’t really want to cause unnecessary deaths, since it did reduce the amount of followers she would eventually have. So despite her annoyance, she sat stoically on the couch and focused on the gentle hum of the air conditioning, slowly falling into a trance wherein she focused on her spreading influence.

The following day, Grimm helped the Radiance disguise herself, which neither of them really enjoyed. First of all, Grimm had a dubious selection of clothing, and the Radiance didn’t really want to know why. She was dressed in black clothing, and a long black skirt, which she despised, but none of Grimm’s pants fit her. After that, Grimm got to tying back her hair into a knot, which he thought would be easy, but her hair was so unnaturally thick and luxurious that it was unlike anything he had ever worked with before. He ended up just giving her a hat and sunglasses to hide her face. He then took a thin layer of makeup and accentuated her cheekbones severely, then creating lines on her face so that she looked about 30 years older.

“There.” He says, stepping away. “You’re not the… most attractive person, but that was the point, wasn’t it?”

“The point of this body wasn’t to be attractive.” She mutters. “It was to be practical. It might have been helpful if I wasn’t so tall.” The Radiance looks at herself in the mirror, and narrows her eyes. “But you’re right. By the conventional standards of humans, I’m not the most attractive.”

“Don’t touch your face.” Grimm advises. “I don’t know how durable that makeup is.”

“Not a problem. I’m going now. Do I need your permission?” she mocks.

“Not like I could stop you.” he shrugs. The Radiance gives him one last look before leaving the apartment.

She doesn’t get very far.

Getting down the elevator was easy enough. A man got in with her halfway down, looking tired. He didn’t pay her any attention, thankfully, but the Radiance had half a mind to just place her hand on his forehead…

The two of them got out on the ground floor and headed towards the exit. The Radiance had bent her knees slightly to reduce her height, but it still didn’t get her past the police officer who was monitoring the door.

“Hey you! Ma’am!” He calls to her. The Radiance ignores him, hoping he might give it up. She walks through the door and turns to the left, still walking alongside that man, who was now glancing back at that police officer.

“I think he was calling to you.” the man says. “If you don’t want to get in trouble you should probably go back.”

“Oh, was he talking to me?” She replies, playing dumb. “Ah, how silly of me. I’ve been losing my hearing lately.”

“I can relate. Still, you should probably go back because you might get into a situation if you don’t.” He looks back down at his phone and continues walking. The Radiance continues walking with him.

“Are you not going to go back?” he says after a minute. “Seriously, you could get in big trouble. They’ve been putting those officers everywhere lately, trying to find this criminal. He’s just going to ask you to take off your sunglasses. Apparently the lady has weird eyes.”

“Oh, yes. I will soon.” She says. The Radiance definitely would have left him, but she was so densely packed within the flow of traffic that it would be a huge pain to turn back. Plus, she still had quite a bit to go until she got to her old ally’s house. “It’s just the traffic density. I’ll go back when it thins.”

The man doesn’t say anything. He knows it’s not his business. For once, the Radiance is relieved, but the feeling doesn’t last long.

“Everybody right here, please stop walking!” Someone calls from the street. The man in front of her halts, and she walks right into him.

“Hey-- watch where--” She takes a deep breath, seeing how everyone in front of her stopped. “Oh, great.”

“You in the black hat and sunglasses!” she hears the same person yell, now closer to the sidewalk. “Come out of the crowd!”

“You’ve gotta be shitting me.” The man in front of her mutters. “Look, now you’ve got all of us caught up in this bullshit. Jesus christ.”

The Radiance pierced him with an intense stare, one which he didn’t catch behind her sunglasses. “Why do the gods damn me?” she mutters ironically.

“Ma’am! I’m asking you to show yourself!” They repeat. The Radiance scoffs, and walks up to the front of the crowd, without straying too far from the edge.

“What is this nonsense?” She asks, subconsciously dawning a rather weird accent. “I highly doubt this is allowed.”

“Ma’am, I’m going to have to ask you to remove your hat and sunglasses or we can have you taken in for resisting arrest. It’s for your own safety.”

“This is assault!” She says. “You don’t have any reason to make me do anything.”

“We have reasonable suspicion that you might be a dangerous criminal. Remove your sunglasses, or we’ll take you in. You’ve already taken up all these good folks’ time.” He growls. “The longer you resist, the more suspicious we become.”

“Come on, lady!” Someone in the crowd yells. “We’ve got shit to do!”

“Fuckin’ bitch.” Someone else mutters. The Radiance’s eyes flash beneath her glasses, and she stands up straight once again. Her patience was thinning, and there wasn’t really much she could do by now.

“Out of respect for my friend, and brother, you can take me in if you’d like.” She finally says, the accent she put on dying within seconds. “But I’ll have you know, containing me does nothing. You can’t beat me. You might as well be taking me to a nice, warm bed where I get to watch you pointlessly struggle with trying to wrap your tiny minds around my existence.”

The police officer doesn’t say anything. The crowd is silent.

“Sunglasses.” He repeats. The Radiance rolls her eyes.

“Was I not clear enough?” She smiles, and snaps her fingers. The sunglasses, hat, makeup, and outfit disappear, replaced by golden plate mail, shining in the sunlight. Her wings unfurl, mostly for effect and intimidation. When it came to her godly appearance, the Radiance didn’t skimp on anything. She smiled as the officers stepped back in horror, placing their hands on the handles of their guns. “Scared?”

The main officer pulls the gun from its holster, clearly with the urge to point it at her. He walks over to his car, his eyes trained on the God of Light, and pulls the back door open. “Get in.”

“Oh, honey, I don’t think my wings will fit.” She says sweetly. “You know I could just fly to the station. I know where it is.”

“Get into the car.” He repeats. 

“Hmm.” She strolls over to him, and places her hand on his shoulder. He’s standing still, his shock keeping him from moving. “It seems you misunderstood. See, you have no power over me. So, instead of this nonsense, I’m going to head to the station on my own accord, and meet you there.”

“You’re going there anyway.” One of the other officers says, now pointing their gun at her. “Why does it matter how you get there?”

“Exactly.” She purrs. “You understand.”

She launches herself into the air without saying another word. Short bangs of gun fire sound from below her, but the bullets whizz past her as she soars up and over the buildings. She falls back down to the top of the building for a moment to survey the sky. The amount of helicopters has decreased, but there’s still a few on her way to the police station. She had almost completely disregarded her original plan to get her revenge on Franklin. Instead, she felt that the police station would be the best place to begin the spread of the infection in this new city. 

She skims along the tops of the buildings, constantly glancing upwards at the helicopters. She didn’t really care if they saw her, since she was going to where they wanted her anyway, but it would be less of a hassle if they didn’t do anything.

It didn’t take long for her to get to the station, and when she did, she landed in front of the door unceremoniously, and brushed back her hair. She took a few steps towards the door and threw it open abruptly so that it rattled on its hinges.

“Hello.” She chuckled, her arms wide open. Her wings were folded, but they still dragged along the ceiling. “Officer Bill Wilde was the one in charge of the Haddison Night Club murder case, wasn’t he? I’d like to speak to him.”

The woman at the front desk had her eyes locked onto the Radiance, entirely stunned. She blinked a few times, her figure still frozen in place.

“Well?” The Radiance hissed. “You can talk, right?”

She lets out a short breath, and suddenly reaches for the phone. She dials a number, and slowly puts the phone to her ear.

“I swear to god, if it’s those fuckers again, tell them I have—“ she faintly heard an angry voice on the other end.

“It’s the woman.” The front desk lady spoke, her eyes still wide. “The—the one who came in that one day, and the one who we’ve been looking for, and she’s right here, and she wants to talk to you.”

There’s nothing said on the other line for at least 20 seconds.

“Wh— is she restrained?” He finally asks.

“No, she just walked in.”

“Fucking restrain her then!” He yells. “And have them take her down to the fifth interrogation room right after—“ there’s a loud shuffling noise in the background, and he swears again.

The Radiance holds out her hand for the phone, and slowly, the woman places it in her hand. She yanks the phone up and places it to her ear. “Listen now. I’m here to explain everything you want me to explain for as long as you wish. Try to detain me if you want, but know it’s futile. I’m going to come to your room right now, and spend however long I wish to in there. Understood?”

She hears something hit the floor on the other line. “Are you shitting me? What are you doing? Why? What’s your goal?”

“You’ll have the chance to find out.” She sneers, crushing the phone in her bare hands. She puts it back on the desk, and leaves down the hallway, her wings disappearing. The constant noise of them against the ceiling was starting to irritate her.

There weren’t many people in the hallways, probably because they were all out looking for her. The few people she did pass looked at her with complete and utter shock, none of them really knowing what to do at that point. She strolls nonchalantly past each of them, and eventually makes it to the room where she senses the officer’s presence. She places her hand over the doorknob and pushes it open.

The desk rattles as something behind it hits it, and Officer Wilde looks up from underneath the desk. His pupils dilate and his face goes white. Radi can’t help but notice that he was clearly in the middle of something when she arrived, since there’s about a hundred pieces of paper scattered around the desk.

“What the hell!” He gasps, looking confused and angry. “What are you? Who are you? Why have you come to ruin my life?”

“I didn’t think I would have to console you.” She mutters. “But you seem a little stressed.”

He stares at her for a long moment. “I don’t know what you want, but for once, I believe you. I don’t think I have any control over you, I don’t think any of us do— all I want are answers. I swear, I’ll talk to you, just give me 10 minutes, please. I can meet you in the room three doors down to your right.”

The Radiance stares at him for a moment. “Of course. As you wish.”

She leaves the room, maintaining eye contact with the officer for as long as possible before turning the corner. She walks down the hallway and turns to the left into a plain room with a plain square table and two chairs on either side of it. She takes the seat nearest to the door and crosses her arms, taking a deep breath. She waits for a few moments, until the door behind her bursts open, and seven officers walk into the room, each in full SWAT gear and guns pointed at the Radiance’s head. She doesn’t flinch, and instead slowly turns her head towards each of them.

“Stand up. Hands behind your back.” One of the men says. She does so, and watches them as they cuff her hands and her feet. One of them grabs her shoulder plate and tries to take it off, but she pierces him with a stare so intense that he steps back and looks to the commanding officer.

“Don’t bother.” He mutters. “They said she just made it materialize out of thin air. Taking it won’t do anything.”

The corners of Radi’s mouth curl. She sits back down in the seat, and stares straight ahead, very aware of the officers standing around her. She started to realize that she could hear voices from inside their heads. She could hear their thoughts. 

The man on her right was thinking about the season finale of a show he just finished. There was a woman on her left who was thinking about how she was going to entertain her kids while her husband was gone for tonight. She could hear a little girl laughing in the head of one of the men on her left. He was looking forward to seeing his daughter today. He had always looked forward to seeing her after his wife and him divorced. Another man on her left was angry, pissed off that his girlfriend cheated on him. Well soon, he wouldn’t have to be angry anymore.

The door behind the Radiance opened, and Officer Wilde entered the room, walking around the table and sitting across from her. He looked more serious now, less confused, angry, and scared. His face was hardened, but she could still see into his mind. His marriage was struggling, and his teenage son was starting to distance himself from his dad. He was worried about his son’s mental health. He was struggling at work. He had to take all the blame for the loss of the Hollow Knight. And on top of all of that, he was working hard not to fall back on alcohol.

“Let’s start simple.” He begins, opening up a binder and placing it on the table. “Who are you really?”

“I am the Radiance.” She says. “I am the God of Light and Dreams. I have existed since the dawn of time. It’s as simple as that.”

He blinks, and writes something in the binder. “Can you tell me about this?” He takes a small jar of something from his pocket and places it on the table. It’s a sample of the infection.

“I’ve spoken to you about this before.” She says. “That is a physical manifestation of my influence. It didn’t appear until my influence spread through the Kingdom of Hallownest while under the Pale King’s rule. They called it the infection, which I’ve never really liked. It is a constant characteristic of people under my influence.”

“Is it dangerous?” He asks.

“Only if you think it is.” She smiles slightly. “Joining me, submitting to my influence… it’s not a terrible thing. All of your worries go away. You’d have your son back.”

He pauses. “How… how did you know I have a son?”

“I know quite a bit about you.” She continues. “Your wife is an insurance agent, isn’t she? She’s always taken care of your son. You blame yourself for your struggling relationship, deep down, but you hold on to a small piece of hope that it’s not your fault. You're worried that your son won’t be able to make a living on his passions. You’re angry at him for his low grades, but you’re worried about how he’s coping with—“

“Stop.” He says, his voice shaky. “Stop.” He looks at the table, taking deep breaths. “Shit.”

“Officer Wilde?” One of the men asks. “Are you—“

“I—“ He stands up. “I need a minute. My head hurts like hell.”

He walks out of the room, gesturing to some of the guys to follow him. “Leave her. I have a bad feeling about… staying around her.”

“Won’t she try to leave?” One of the other men asks. 

“If she didn’t want to be here she wouldn’t have flown straight to the station.” Bill grunts. “Just leave her here.”

Nobody else says anything. They leave the room, and the Radiance is left sitting there alone. She hears a bit of chatter outside the room for a moment, until it dies down, and there’s footsteps leading away from the door. She waits a few minutes, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, trying to focus on the clean parts of the air, and not the small amounts of circulating smoke.

She hears the door behind her click, and creak open. Her eyes flutter open, and she continues to stare forward, pretending as though she didn’t hear anything. The door is shut closed slowly, and she hears someone exhale softly.

“...You don’t even have the consideration to turn around and look at me.” They say, their voice hardened and condescending. It’s a woman’s. She sounds familiar.

“And I don’t have the desire to turn around and look at you.” She replies. “Walk in front of me.”

The woman behind her lets out a short huff. “Only because I need you to know my name.”

She walks out from behind the Radiance, her hands behind her back. She turns around and strikes her with an intense stare that rivals even Radi’s. 

“Protector of Hallownest and daughter of the Pale King…” The Radiance starts to smile. “Hornet. Pleased to finally speak to you.” Radi hides her surprise.

“God of Light.” She replies. “Master of manipulation. I’m less pleased to speak with you.”

“You clearly have something to say.” The Radiance states. “I know you well enough to know that you wouldn’t come to visit me just to exchange pleasantries.”

Hornet wears a very pronounced scowl on her face. “You’re right. I’ve come to tell you to give up. To stop this pointless quest for revenge. Because otherwise we’ll have no choice but to go directly for your throat.”

The Radiance smiles. “And how exactly do you plan to do that?”

“We have the vessel.”

“The Hollow Knight isn’t going to help you.” She says. “They’re on the verge of choosing me over the Pale King. Just a little bit more time should convince them that I want the best for them.”

“No.” Hornet growls. “We have  _ the  _ vessel. We have  _ them. _ ”

The Radiance stares into Hornet’s eyes for a long moment. “They are dead. They used all their energy to consume me centuries ago. “

“You’re wrong. I found them a few years ago. They’re perfectly fine.”

Radi rolls her shoulders back. “It doesn’t matter. I’ve learned from last time, and even if they manage to defeat me once more, you know I’ll be back. I’ll be back time and again, and eventually you won’t be there anymore to guide them.”

But Hornet smiles slightly. “That’s what I thought. But there’s another way.”

The Radiance takes a deep breath, trying to take this in. “And how exactly does this other way work?”

“I’m sure you know about it.” She says. “The Godseeker said most higher beings know about it.”

The Radiance breaks their eye contact. “You’re talking about the Pantheon of Hallownest.”

“Yes.”

“It’s never been done.” She says. “Ever. Nobody has ever even made it past the fifth break. They say nothing is impossible, but that Pantheon truly is. I might as well break it to you that it is, indeed, a pipe dream. But I’m not going to judge you for considering it. You’re in a tough situation.”

“That vessel is the only being who has ever united the void under them. The void is the only thing that can defeat you. Who’s to say they can’t beat the Pantheon? I think you know they can. And I think you’re scared.”

The Radiance says nothing. It’s true— the only way she could be permanently beaten was through the pantheon.

“The void wasn’t united under them when they defeated me long ago.” She continues. “The shades were united under them. If they truly had the void united, all against me, then their power would be unlimited. They could do anything.”

“They could defeat you.” Hornet says. The Radiance doesn’t respond. As far as she knew, and as far as anyone knew, the Pantheon of Hallownest was impossible. But, if there was the tiniest, littlest, smallest chance that it could be done, that vessel would be the most promising candidate. The Radiance had to consider this. 

“You must know that my power will be near unlimited as well.” Radi says. “At the very top. The chance of them winning is next to none.”

“But it exists.” She replies. “And that’s good enough for me.”

The Radiance closes her eyes, and looks down at the table. For a moment, she thinks about the void, and she tries to hear what Hornet’s thinking, but her mind is shut tight. All her thoughts are shut away and locked within her so there’s not a single chance for the Radiance to sneak into them.

Radi’s mouth curls into a small smile. “I think the odds are in my favor.”

Hornet and her make eye contact again. The princess inhales sharply. 

“I know the chances are high enough to make you worried.” She muses. “And that’s good enough for me.”

Neither of them say another word. Hornet strolls back to the door and exits the room, leaving the Radiance alone once again. The Goddess looks down at her feet, chained at the ankles. She could easily slide them apart and the chain would break, but she knew it gave the police a false sense of security. She inhales and exhales in a rhythmic way, keeping her eyes on the chain in between her ankles.

A false sense of security. That’s what Hornet had. A false hope that even if the vessel managed to win against the Radiance, and vanquish her permanently, everything would be at peace.

But of course, the Radiance  _ is  _ the Light, and without light… there is only darkness.


	26. The Threat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Grimm visits the Radiance at the police station.

The Radiance spent the rest of that day and the beginning of the next day simply sitting in the room, occasionally being visited by police officers. She managed to tell one of them a decent bit of the story, the story of Hallownest, without revealing Hallownest’s current location or telling them too much. She omitted details like the void, the Hollow Knight, Hornet, and only spoke about her grudge with the Pale King. It felt, to her, like less of an interrogation and more of a peaceful conversation. But it wasn’t easy for someone to listen to her for an extended period of time. After spending too much time in the room with her, people would get throbbing headaches, could no longer think straight, and would feel their heart beating within their chest. If they spent too long with her, their eyes would glaze over, and they’d start muttering things about their lives, about what was on their mind. It was the infection. It was spreading fast, and by the next morning, nobody dared even walk near her room.

She had started to become somewhat bored without any company, and she had begun to consider just getting up and leaving, when she heard someone speaking outside her door.

“...If you get lightheaded or anything like that, get out of there immediately. I know you said you wouldn’t hold us responsible for anything that happens in there, but I still--”

“It’s not a problem.” A familiar voice responded. The Radiance’s ears perk up, and she takes a small glance behind her. The door opens.

“Christ.” They mutter from behind her. The door shuts closed, and the man, her brother, the Nightmare King, walks in front of her. “You didn’t even last a day.”

“You didn’t tell me there would be police at the front entrance.” Radi says. Grimm just sighs and looks down at the floor. “What do you want?”

“I felt obligated to come talk to you.” He says, sitting down across from her. “The police are trying not to cause a panic, but it’s a little bit hard to now that the infection is leaking out of Hallownest and onto the street.”

The Radiance sits up straighter, intrigued. “Really?”

“You didn’t know?” He asks, astonished. “It’s your influence. How do you not know—“

“I’ve been focusing more on the influence of people around me.” She says. “I heard the officers were talking to you about how people tend to feel when they spend too much time around me.”

“Yes, I figured that much, but I don’t think you realized that the actual infection started to leak from that parking garage up into the city. You know, the orange goo? That bright, obnoxious color? Yeah, it’s there, and people are starting to…”

“To turn to me?” The Radiance guesses hopefully. “Of course. I knew it. It’s only a matter of time before everyone is finally under my control.”

Grimm sighs. “I suppose. I just thought you’d want to know.”

“It feels nice to get some good news.” She continues. “You know, I was visited by… the princess of Hallownest herself yesterday.”

Grimm looks up, intrigued. “Oh yeah?”

“She had a very interesting thing to tell me.” Radi continues. “She was personally a little bit too confident for what her plan was, but a little confidence never hurt anyone.”

“What did she tell you?”

She looks up at him, her eyebrows furrowing. “She has this strange, false notion that I could be permanently defeated in some way.”

Grimm swallows. “Yeah…?”

“You must know that the only thing that can actually permanently defeat me is the void.” She says. “I can be trapped, hidden away, stowed away, perhaps maybe even for eternity, but I can’t be defeated, except by a fully united void.”

The Nightmare King folds his arms. “And?”

“The void has never been fully united before. The power that could be unleashed under a united void would be catastrophic. Nobody, not even I, could stop it, especially if their main goal was to see my end.” She takes another deep breath. “Hornet plans of having the vessel, the one who defeated me centuries ago, to--”

“They’re alive?” Grimm asked suddenly, his eyebrows furrowing. “I was almost sure they died after they fought you.”

“They did.” she says. “Apparently Hornet found them reincarnated only a few years ago above the surface.” She looks up at him with narrowed eyes. “Are you going to let me finish?”

“Oh, yeah.” he shakes his head, and folds his hands in his lap.

“She plans to have them ascend the Pantheon of Hallownest so at the very top, they can battle me.” Radi continues. “In theory, they could defeat me, because they’re infused with the void, but if that were to happen…”

She and Grimm share a long look. “They would harness the power of a unified void.”

“Exactly.” She mutters.

Grimm slowly places his hand over his mouth. “We… what would a world under the void look like? We know what a world with only light looks like, you’ve shown us—”

“I haven’t.” She says. “The world you’ve seen wasn’t a world with only light, because the void existed, even though my influence was nearly all consuming. A world with only light would be utterly blinding.” She continues. “Even I don’t want that.”

Grimm’s eyes slowly bored onto the table as he realized what this meant.

“A world in which I don’t exist isn’t worth living in.” She says. “Because that world is coated in all-consuming darkness. Hornet doesn’t know what she’s going to bring into existence by trying to permanently eliminate me.”

The Troupe Master swallowed hard. “But that would only happen if the vessel actually made it to the top and managed to defeat you, right? And what are the odds of that happening?”

The Radiance looks down at the table. “I told Hornet that the odds of them winning were second to none, but the more I thought about it, the more I considered the fact that the chances are higher than I ever could have thought.” She drums her fingers on the table. “They say the pantheon of Hallownest is impossible, but I also never believed that any being, not even a being like the Pale King, could vanquish me for as long as they did centuries ago. The more I think about it, the more I start to hypothesize that the Pantheon of Hallownest was created specifically for them to complete.”

Grimm takes a shaky breath. “Did you try to tell her?” He whispers.

“I did.” She murmurs. “I tried to tell her about the absolute power that the vessel would hold if I was killed. She seemed to think I was lying.”

Grimm runs his hands through his hair, before standing up. “Think she’ll believe me?”

“She has a better chance of believing you than she does of believing me.” Radi says. “They’re resting in Godhome. I’m not quite sure where the entrance is, but if you do, then maybe you’ll be able to talk some sense into her.”

He takes another deep breath. “I’ve been there a few times. Nice place.” He starts to walk towards the door. “Thanks for telling me.”

“My pleasure.” She mutters, looking straight ahead again. She hears the door shut behind her, and she closes her eyes, only now just feeling her influence growing around the entrance to Hallownest.

…

Godhome was an excellent place for Ghost to practice their technique. The arenas the Godseekers had set up for each of their Opponents in the Hall of Gods were perfect for honing their skills with a nail. In the Hall of Gods, Ghost could practice fighting against any of the people they had previously fought and defeated, and at first Hornet was rather confused as to how they could get anyone they wished to arrive here and offer to train with her sibling, until the Godseeker explained that these were simply memories, shadows of the true Gods that Ghost would fight in the Pantheon of Hallownest. They were immaculate replacements that they could use to train, but they weren’t the actual gods themselves. 

Hornet had to admit that it was strange, watching as Ghost fought in the practice areas against people she had actually known before. She recognized the Mantis Sisters, the Soul Master, and the Watcher Knights, and memories of when she was a young girl came flooding back to her. She could even watch Ghost fight herself, or at least, a mimic of herself, which was scarily accurate to how she would have actually decided to fight them. 

“The memories we store of the Gods are incredibly accurate, which is how we can manage to replicate your fighting styles almost perfectly.” The Godseeker was explaining to Hornet as she watched her sibling fight a shadow of herself. She didn’t quite know what to think about all of this, but if it meant that Ghost would have an easy way to hone their skills, she didn’t mind it at all.

“Their movement is incredible.” The Pale King muttered, sitting beside Hornet. On the other side of him was the Hollow Knight, who was looking at the floor, running their fingers together nervously. “Who taught them this?”

“They learned it themselves.” Hornet replied. “As far as I know. I know they’ve learned a bit of techniques from the old Nail Masters… perhaps you remember them?”

“A few.” The Pale King sighed. “They weren’t very susceptible to the infection, were they?”

“They were above average, is what I believe.” She says.

Behind them, a door opens. The four of them had been sitting in a sort of stadium-like place, where hundreds of empty benches stood surrounding an arena where Ghost was fighting. The doorway was built into the ascending stairs where each of the benches stood individually.

Hornet looked behind her, and her heart practically jumped out of her chest when she saw who it was. 

“Oh, gods, Hornet.” The Nightmare King announced, stepping down towards her. The Pale King whipped around to face him, recognizing his voice. 

“Nightmare King Grimm?” He breathed, in awe. He stood up and walked over to him, holding out his hand. “It’s been so long.”

“I thought you were dead.” Grimm replies, less than amused. His appearance while in the dream realm was different to how he looked in the city. His hair, which was normally black, now appeared a bright, scarlet red, and his long, flowing cloak, which was usually somewhat of a dark, greyish blue, was a deep red. In the Dream realm, Troupe Master Grimm became Nightmare King Grimm, and his power was increased dramatically. If only all of his power could have been transferred to his physical body. He’d be faster, deadlier, and much more lethal.

“I’ve been looking for you for a while.” Grimm muttered. “I see you’re training the vessel, and I’ve heard you’re planning on completing the Pantheon of Hallownest.”

“Where did you hear that from?” Hornet asked, not confirming nor denying it. She didn’t really trust the Nightmare King, on the account that she didn’t really know him. She looked to the Pale King, wondering what his impression of Grimm was.

“I know what your goal is, and I don’t mean to impede you like this, but…” Grimm’s eyes flit down to the Pale King, and then back to Hornet. “This is a terrible idea.”

Hornet scoffs. “Do you know what I’ve been trying to do for the last few hundred years?” She says. “Did you see what the Radiance’s influence did to Hallownest in her prime? She needs to be stopped, permanently.”

“Hornet, calm down.” The Pale King implores. “The Nightmare King has existed for almost as long as the Radiance. We ought to listen to him. I even worked with him briefly as I discussed my plans to trap the Radiance long ago.”

“He’s right.” Grimm continues. “Perhaps the Radiance has gone too far in her relentless pursuit for revenge, but she is essential for the continuing existence of any kind of life on this planet.”

Hornet narrows her eyes, listening intently. 

“If you were to ever be successful in ascending the Pantheon of Hallownest and defeating her, the full force of a united void would be unleashed not only upon her, but on the entire planet, and it would be enveloped in darkness. Without her, there’s no light, and a reality in which light doesn’t exist is so, so much worse than a reality in which her influence runs unchecked.”

Hornet doesn’t say anything.

“Don’t you understand? This is a lose-lose situation for everyone.” He says. “And I can tell you that the chance of that little vessel winning isn’t second to none. I spoke with the Radiance, and--”

“You spoke to the Radiance?” Hornet hisses suddenly. “How the hell do we know you’re not working with her, and you’re just telling us this to throw us off?”

“Hornet!” PK scolds. “He’s the Nightmare King. He’s literally one of the Radiance’s polar opposites. He wouldn’t lie to us.”

“I can’t trust him.” She looks to her father. “This is our only chance. I don’t want to live for another few centuries just so I can keep trying to fight off the Radiance for as long as possible.”

“Listen to me.” Grimm interrupts. “Seriously. The chances of them being successful are higher than you think. The Radiance told me she thinks that this Pantheon was created specifically for them to complete, and it makes sense. Since they’re infused with the void, they have the power to bring a fully united void into existence, which is the only thing that could ever permanently end her.”

Hornet swallows, her face hardened. 

“Perhaps we need to rethink this.” the Pale King says. “We have to find another way. If he’s right, this is a lose-lose situation.”

“No.” Hornet mutters underneath her breath, sitting back down on the bench.

“It’s entirely true.” Grimm says. “I heard it from the Radiance herself. You might not trust her, but she doesn’t lie. She never lies.”

“It’s too late.” Hornet whispers, placing her head in her hands. “It’s too late.”

Both Grimm and the Pale King look down at her, their eyes widening. “What do you mean…?” The Nightmare King breathes, the slits in his eyes getting thinner.

“It’s done. It’s been done.” She says, looking up at him. “Yesterday night I confirmed to her that the Pantheon would be attempted by my sibling.”

Grimm’s eyes snap over towards the Godseeker, who is standing stock still, looking down into the arena, where Ghost is now practicing fighting a dream Warrior known as Markoth.

“No.” Grimm’s voice is practically gone.

“The Pantheon of Hallownest will begin in three days.” She says, her voice monotone. Grimm’s heart feels like it just dropped out of his chest. “We hope to see the Great God of Gods reveal thyself to us during the event.”

Nobody says a word. The Pale King only looks down at the floor and falls to his knees.

“No…”

Grimm’s hands ball into fists, and for a moment he’s shaking, until he relaxes himself and forces himself to take a deep breath.

“Well then.” He mutters, his voice shaking. “I’ll have you know that I’ll be praying.” He says, bending down slightly so that Hornet can look him in the eyes. “I’ll be praying.”

He suddenly reaches out and grabs the Spider Queen by her collar. She doesn’t try to break away or say anything in return. Grimm is furious.

“I’ll be fucking praying.” He hisses, his voice changing suddenly from smooth and sweet to deep and beast-like. He sounds like a much larger creature, and his heartbeat was right in her ear. “I’ll be praying to every fucking God in this hall that you lose.”

And he disappears in a puff of red smoke. Hornet falls back onto the bench, and leans back, looking towards the sky. The Pale King gets off his knees and sits back next to her.

“You didn’t even let us talk this out.” He murmurs, his face falling. 

“I’m sorry.” Hornet replied, emotionlessly. “You said to me that there had to be another way. This is it.”

The Pale King looks away from Hornet and to the Hollow Knight. Hollow looks like he didn’t even hear what Grimm had been saying. They looked like they were focused on something entirely different.

“Are you going to tell Ghost to purposely lose?” PK asks after a while.

“If I do that, we lose them forever.” Hornet says. “Besides, I don’t think I can even tell them to do that. They listen to me when it comes to practically everything, but I’ve never told them to give up their life. I don’t think they would.”

“So we’re just going to wait until the void destroys us all?” he asks in disbelief.

“We don’t know if that will happen.” Hornet says hopefully. “But even if it will, we can’t stop it now.”

Her dad is silent for a few moments.

“If you still had the chance to go back and change this, would you?” he asks. “Would you go back and tell the Godseeker that Ghost isn’t going to do the Pantheon right now if you could?”

Hornet doesn’t answer. In truth, she doesn’t know the answer to that question. All she knows is that she wouldn’t forgive herself if Hallownest or any other kingdom had to spend another eternity under the Radiance’s influence. The reality Grimm had described was devastating, certainly, but she had seen the Radiance’s reality, and she couldn’t bring herself to live through it again. 

“You know…” The Pale King starts, standing up. “You know… I just thought of something.”

Hornet looks up at him. He’s gotten up off the bench and he’s now walking over to the aisle. “What?”

He doesn’t say anything, but instead looks in deep thought as he watches Ghost skillfully maneuver up the arena to strike at Markoth through his circling dream shields. It was an extremely impressive hit, and it marks the dream warrior’s death. Ghost lands gracefully on their feet on top of one of the floating platforms, and watches as Markoth disappears in a burst of light particles. Hornet looks back at the Pale King as his eyes widen, and he lets his hands drop to his sides.

“I have an idea.”


	27. The Sacrifice

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Family of four returns to Hallownest.

The Pale King’s plan required a return trip to Hallownest. His plan relied on a hunch, a tiny hope that was completely and entirely unsupported by any evidence whatsoever. Still, that was good enough for Hornet. There was quite literally nothing else for them to do while they waited for the day of the Pantheon, and a hope, no matter how small, was better than nothing at this point. 

Hornet planned to take Ghost and the Pale King down to Hallownest with her, for backup in case they ran into trouble on their way there. Both her and her father agreed to leave behind Hollow, since it was obvious they’d probably only slow them down, but they seemed content on proving themselves to their dad. They would leave the same day, only an hour after Grimm’s visit, straight towards the parking garage in the center of the city. No funny business. If the police didn’t let them near the place, it was their own fault. She’d have Ghost take care of them. 

They were set in disguises, ready to leave Godhome when Hollow came out of their room, in their own disguise, in the hope that Hornet might let them help with the plan. 

“Hollow.” She addressed them, sighing. “You have to understand-- the less people we bring, the better. And you draw attention to yourself. You’re way too tall.”

Hollow looked at the floor, and the Pale King walked to Hornet’s side. “If they really want to help, then we could find a use for them.”

She looked down at him. “What are you thinking?”

“If the parking garage is guarded,” He says, “then we could use them as a distraction to draw the police, or at least the majority of them, away from the entrance.”

Hornet’s eyes narrowed. “Like… like bait?” She looked appalled. “You-- they’re your child. You’re really just going to-- let… They’ll get captured, no doubt, and the Radiance will find out. What will she do to them?”

PK looked up at her. “The Hollow Knight has been through worse than this. Besides, I don’t think the Radiance will do anything to them. She has a connection to them. She’s been stuck inside their mind for the longest time. She’s… probably not going to hurt them.”

Hornet looked back up at the Hollow Knight. They were looking at her with a sorrowful look in their eyes, almost pleading to be helpful. She felt a sharp pang in her chest.

“Fine.” She sighed. “But we don’t have much time. Follow me.”

Hornet turned on her heel and walked through Godhome down to the gateway, the Pale King at her heels. She was prepared, above all, to take on anything they might face, since the fate of the world quite literally depended upon it. She stepped up on the platform she had first appeared on and cast an eye out at the numerous godseekers looking up at her. Some had their heads bowed in respect, some were simply staring at her. She ignored them, and suddenly she felt her vision go to a blinding white, and she stepped forward, into the dank and dirty stairwell that they had taken down to Godhome.

She looked backwards to see the Pale King stepping from the supposedly blank wall, followed closely by Ghost, and then the Hollow Knight. Surprisingly, their disguises they picked out in Godhome stayed with them as they left the place, which Hornet was skeptical of. She motioned for them to follow her out of the stairwell, and into the Hotel’s main hallway. There was nobody in the lobby, except for an older man looking down at his phone. He didn’t seem particularly fazed by the strange group of white-haired people, surprisingly, but Hornet was thankful without a doubt.

The sun had just begun to set as the four of them stepped onto the street. They took the alleyways when possible, but it wasn’t a huge problem when they had to take the main sidewalks. It was rush hour, and nobody was paying much attention to anybody else on the streets. The flow of traffic was fast and loud, perfect for blending in despite their bright white hair. The garage was about 10 blocks away from the hotel, but problems arose a block before they arrived. All the blocks around the Parking garage were blocked off so that nobody could enter them. Most people were just pissed off, but Hornet became concerned almost immediately. 

The police weren’t letting anyone pass the caution tape, unless they were part of the police force, or they came from the hospital. Hornet could see a few people being wheeled out on stretchers, their faces hidden by pieces of breathing equipment. She wanted to get closer to examine what was going on, but she didn’t, out of worry that she would be recognized. It wasn’t out of the question, either, considering her stark white hair.

The four of them entered an alleyway near the blocked off area, and Hornet pulled out her needle. She was quick to zip straight up to the wall, sitting about 20 feet off the ground. She cast an eye out at the area, and put up her hood before zipping straight into the alleyway across from her, blocked off by caution tape. She was careful not to be spotted, but still getting a good look at the situation inside the tape.

When she returned, she removed her hood and looked grimly at the Pale King.

“Infection.” She mutters. The Pale King takes a shaky breath.

“Oh… gods.” He breathes. “This is bad…”

“You don’t say.” Hornet replies bitterly. “Not only that, but it looks like they pried open the elevator doors, and now they know the entrance to Hallownest is there.”

PK placed his hand over his mouth and swore. “We’re gonna need a big fucking distraction for this.”

“The infection is leaking out onto the street.” She continues. “The people who get near it start to… turn. Everyone’s wearing breathing apparatus like that’ll stop them from getting infected. On the bright side, everyone’s staying a good distance away from the garage since they’re catching on to the fact that staying anywhere near it, no matter what they’re wearing, will change them.”

“You don’t think we can just sneak past them into the garage?” PK proposes. “Without a distraction? You said they’re staying a good distance away.”

“Mostly.” She mutters. “But there’s a few people staying near it, just making sure nobody gets in.”

“And they’re not getting infected?”  
“Not as far as I know. I mean, they’ll submit to it eventually, but some people last longer.” 

The Pale King thinks for a moment. “What do you suppose we should do?”

The Hollow Knight places their hand on their dad’s shoulder, as a reminder of their presence. Hornet looked up at them, taking in their posture.

“If you’re so inclined to help, then we can have you create a distraction big enough to draw those people out of the garage.” Hornet spoke directly to the Hollow Knight. “We can take care of the ones who aren’t drawn out, because chances are they’re on the verge of infection.”

Hollow and PK make eye contact. “We’re gonna need you to do as much damage as possible, without hurting anyone too bad. Can you do that?”

They nod. Hornet’s face hardens.

“Then go out there and raise hell.”

They bow their head and stand up as straight as possible, pulling off the cloth covering their left eye and letting their hair down. They take one glance back as they reach the end of the alleyway, before turning back and walking out.

Ghost is quick to jump onto Hornet’s back as she zips away into the alley across from them. The Pale King tries to look out into the street to see what’s going on, and hears a faint yell. Hornet lands behind him.

“They’ll be fine.” She assures him. “You said it yourself-- they’ve been through worse.”

There was a loud, indistinguishable sound that came from the street.

“You’re right.” The Pale King wrapped his arm around her shoulder and felt his feet jerk violently off the ground. Hornet brought him up and into the alleyway next to Ghost as he glanced down at a police officer running towards the noise.

The three of them took a left and then another right down the alley, jumping over a fence to get to the block that the parking garage was on. PK poked his head out, and immediately noticed the glowing orange substance that was crawling around one side of the building next to the garage. He caught a glimpse of a few officers running down the street to Hollow’s distraction.

“Now.” Hornet hissed. The three of them sprinted across the street, weaving between large bubbles of infection before crouching behind the building next to the garage. Hornet peers around the corner at the street, seeing a few policemen standing around the entrance to the garage. The rest are running down the street towards the ruckus caused by the Hollow Knight.

“Ghost.” she whispers, grabbing their hand. “Come with me. Dad, you wait here.”

PK nods and watches as Hornet zips up to a window about 30 feet off the ground, Ghost holding tightly onto her. She starts crawling around the side of the building, high enough so the policemen on the ground don’t see her. She crawls right up to the edge of the building, only about 10 feet away from the parking garage. She motions for Ghost to jump to the wall, and they do, latching onto the wall with a special claw, stolen years ago from the Mantis tribe. They climb across the wall and peer down at the ground, where four officers stand, unaware of their presence. Ghost looks back at their sister, and she gives a nod of approval, before they launch themself off the wall and adjust themself in the air to be positioned directly over the middle of the four officers. In the air, their form changes, and their body turns pitch dark, changing into their shade form. It’s almost instantaneous, when they reach out one hand to the floor and descend straight into the ground, resulting in a 20 foot radius of thick, dark smoke surrounding them and violently knocking the officers back before they even knew Ghost was there. 

Two of them hit the wall of the garage, and are promptly knocked out, but the other two are only stunned, already trying to get to their feet. Fortunately, Ghost’s spells aren’t easily recovered from, so they had enough time.

Hornet drops to the ground and looks back at her dad, who jumps out from behind the building and runs up beside her. He looks behind at the mess the Hollow Knight caused, and by god was it a lot. There was a decent amount of thick, orange smoke obscuring their view, but they didn’t stick around for it to clear.

Hornet and the Pale King follow Ghost into the garage, and they’re met with a few officers, stunned by their presence, and therefore laughably unprepared. They fumble with their weapons, but by the time they’ve got them in hand, the Pale King already has them encased in a bubble of bright, white light, which pops violently and sends the two of them flying backwards into the wall.

“...That’s not lethal, is it?” Hornet asks, concerned.

“Nah.” He replies. “They’ll be fine.”

They turn towards the elevator, which is propped open by metal bars. A large trail of infection crawls up through the shaft, which is probably how the police got the idea to look in the elevator shaft in the first place. The three of them jump down into the shaft and turn around, immediately faced with two officers. Why were they even down here? It’s not like they knew what they were protecting.

“Surrender you--”

Two strands of spider silk shoot from Hornet’s hands, discreetly, and wrap around their ankles. She pulls them towards her, and the two men fall straight back onto their backs with resounding grunts.

“Damn.” she mutters, walking towards them. She kicks the guns out of their hands before taking the string attached to their ankles and pulling it up to the ceiling, attaching them to it like cocoons. It takes her about a second each to wrap each of them tightly with string, and they hang there, helpless.

“Come on.” She motions for her sibling and her dad to follow her. The pickup truck has been moved, revealing the hidden passageway, but the fake wall hasn’t been spun. Did they think it wasn’t there? Did they miss it? 

“Who are you?” One of the hanging officers asks her. “Some sort of fuckin’ superhero?”

Hornet huffs indignantly. “You’ll find out soon enough.” She turns around to the wall again, before looking back. “Word of advice, though. Don’t hang out near this garage, and definitely don’t hang out in it. You’ll go insane. You’ll turn to her.”

“The hell ‘you talking about?”

“We’re your ally.” Hornet says, her voice hard and condescending. “Only, we know what’s going on. You want to get rid of this orange shit, right? Then listen to me.”

She turns back around to the wall and starts pushing on it. 

“Jesus Christ, if you’re our ally, why are you impeding our every fucking move?”

“Quiet.” The Pale King hisses, as Hornet opens the wall and steps towards the basin. “You don’t know what’s going on here, and you don’t know what you’re doing. Stay out of our way, if you know what’s best for you.”

“Oh don’t worry, you made sure we’ll do the exact opposite. What did you fucking expect, initiating a prison break--” The Hallownest seal emblazened on the door lights up as Hornet lets a drop of her blood hit the stone basin. The door raises itself, revealing the entrance to Hallownest.

“How’d you get that open?” He asks, his voice switching from anger to confusion. Clearly the officers couldn’t get past this part. The three of them step into the door, and Ghost jumps into the crossroads first. “No seriously. We even tried to break it. That door--”

It starts to close again as Hornet takes one last look at the men tied to the ceiling. “No, wait-- we still--”

Hornet jumps down into the crossroads. 

“Oh gods.” She hears her father whisper to himself as she lands. His eyes glaze over the infected crossroads, and tears start to form at the corners of them. He blinks them back, and tries to ignore them.

“Where do you plan on going?” Hornet asks him, casting a look over at Ghost. “You seemed to have a decent idea of what to do.”  
“A hunch. “ he mutters, clearly distracted. “You know that.”

“And… where is this hunch?” She tries to bring him out of his stupor.

“I…” he takes a shaky breath. “I guess…”

Hornet grabs onto his shoulder and turns him around to face her. “Yeah, this looks bad, but we need you to stop fantasizing about what could have been, so that we can focus on the present.” She breathes, her voice hard. “Now, where are we going?”

PK looks at the floor, and swallows. “One of the five great Knights…” he starts, his breathing shallow. “Her name is Ze’mer. She used to be a very valuable knight, but… she started slipping once she fell in love with the Mantis Traitor's daughter. I heard not long before my… disappearance, that she took up a residence in a small house in the Resting Grounds.”

“What does she have to do with anything?” Hornet asks, rather intrigued. 

“She came from outside Hallownest, and with her, she took along these flowers. None of the other Knights quite knew what her obsession with them was, but she _was_ obsessed. The thing about them is that they seem to emanate a certain special kind of light. They have special properties. I have a hunch that if they were present during the uniting of the void, they could contain it.”  
“...that doesn’t seem that hard.” Hornet muses.

“There’s a catch though.” He says. “Ze’mer never liked to carry those flowers with her, despite being somewhat obsessed with them. That’s because you can’t come to any harm when you’re in possession of one of them. They’re extremely delicate. If you were to get hurt while carrying one, its petals disintegrate before your eyes, and all its properties fade. I’ve seen it happen. She was absolutely devastated.”

Hornet thought about this for a moment. She let out a long sigh. “This sounds like a pain in my ass.”

Ghost had been listening to the two of them, and now they were standing right next to them looking at the Pale King. They reached up and grabbed onto his shirt sleeve.

“What?” He asked, and his voice had a slight edge to it. Ghost looked back and took their map out of the bag they were carrying. They held it up and pointed to a small area in the Queen’s Gardens, marked off with a small drawing of a flower. PK narrowed his eyes and took the map from them, his eyes boring into the paper.

“This…” He mutters, tapping the map. “This is nowhere near where Ze’mer decided to take up residence. In fact, she couldn’t have lived here. This was the home of the Traitor Lord and his daughter, and they were forbidden from each other.”

Ghost gave one curt nod. 

“Then why is there a flower here?”

Ghost walked over and traced their finger over the map. They started at an area in the resting grounds, and drew a pathway all the way to the area with the flower. PK still had his eyes narrowed in concentration.

“I think--” Hornet starts.

“Did you take a flower from the resting grounds to the Queen’s Gardens?” the Pale King asks Ghost, somewhat impressed. They nod. “Oh… why?”

The vessel doesn’t seem to know how to answer that. They look at Hornet, and then back at the Pale King. 

“You don’t think they met Ze’mer, do you?” Hornet wonders. “After spending their time in Hallownest long ago?”  
“It’s possible.” he muttered. Ghost is nodding again. “Should we go to Queen’s Gardens then?”

“Probably the best route to take.” Hornet guesses. “If we’re wrong though, it’ll take a while to get from the Queen’s Gardens to the Resting Grounds. It’s possible we could lose a full day on the surface, with how time works down here.”

The Pale King raises one eyebrow, making a note to ask Hornet what that means later. “Let’s follow the vessel.”

“Yeah.” she turns to Ghost. “We’re following you now.”

They give another short nod and turn on their heel towards the Crossroad’s shaft. Hornet follows at their heels.

“Also, call them Ghost.” She adds, glancing at her dad. “It makes them seem more alive than just calling them… the vessel.”

The Pale King sighs, and looks back at them. “I mean, technically, they are just a vessel.”

Hornet looks towards them as well. A sad smile forms on her face.

“Nah.” She mutters. “They’re alive.”


	28. The Retribution

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Radiance enacts her revenge.

The time for waiting was over. The Radiance had waited long enough in the police station to know that Grimm wasn’t planning on visiting her again the next day. She had sat there for another whole day after Grimm spoke to her, still focusing on regaining her power. But now, there was nothing else to focus on. She needed to get out near the spreading infection to have a more powerful effect on the city. Not to mention that she still hadn’t spoken to Franklin again. She hadn’t forgotten about him. 

She didn’t expect to face much backlash when she strolled right out of the station. Not because she warned them that keeping her in here like a prisoner was just giving them a false sense of security, but because nobody was getting anywhere even remotely near her. Her influence was too strong. At this point, a simple touch of her fingers could break someone with a weak will. She could hear conversations down the hallway, and if she focused enough, she could even hear Officer Wilde’s exasperated voice in his office, sick and tired of the constant phone calls.

The Radiance drew in a deep breath. Her influence left a lingering presence on the room, leaving her with a more pleasant feeling than the one she had when entering. She stood up and turned towards the door, her armor clanking slightly as she stood. The chains on her ankles and wrists melted off, and the metal hit the floor with a violent hiss. She flexed her fingers and rolled her shoulders back before stepping forward and placing her hand on the handle. When it didn’t open, she closed her eyes and the doorknob melted away, the door swinging open at her touch. She stepped outside and looked around the hallways, which had been taped off with yellow caution tape. She was surprised they hadn’t moved her anywhere special yet. They were probably just too scared to get anywhere close to her.

She took a right down the hallway and followed the halls on the way back to the entrance, before seeing a man standing in the hallway at the end of the caution tape. He turned around to see her walking down the hallway, like nothing was out of place at all.

“Hey—“ He faltered, reaching down to the gun at his hip. “You’re not— supposed to— go back to the—“

“Shhh…” The Radiance smiled as she placed her hand on the underside of his chin. The panicked expression on his face vanished almost instantly, and his eyes were suddenly clouded by infection. She slipped her hand away from him after a quick second, and watched his eyes go completely orange, the color in his face draining. He stood there motionless as she continued to walk down the hallway. She found a few more people on the way to the entrance, but didn’t get any trouble until she reached the entrance lobby. A ton of officers were standing there, pointing a variety of firearms at her. Surprisingly, her face relaxed at the sight of them.

“Surrender now or we will fire.” A man at the front asked. It was Officer Wilde, but she didn’t recognize him at first because he was wearing sunglasses.

“You wouldn’t start a shootout here.” She smiles, her fingers drumming on her hips. 

“On the floor.” He repeats. The Radiance’s smile grows wider. Her influence on Officer Wilde is starting to show in his eyes. That’s why he has the sunglasses on.

“Pity you still don’t trust me.” She sighs, and closes her eyes. In a small flick of her fingers, all the guns pointed at her melt in their hands, flowing through each of the policemen’s fingertips like water. Her eyes open again to shocked faces and empty hands, hands with melted metal dripping from them onto the floor. “You should by now.”

She steps towards Wilde and he tries to step backwards, but runs into the officers standing behind him. She reaches forward and takes off his glasses, revealing his brown eyes, clouded over by a slight orange tint. “You have a strong will.”

Some of the officers move around to look at his eyes. She sees some of their eyes go wide. “It’ll be interesting to see how long you last.”

She turns away from him and walks towards the door. Everyone is silent.

“I wouldn’t go just yet.” Wilde mutters, his voice hoarse and only just above a whisper. “We have your little friend. That janitor. Although I very much doubt that’s who he actually is.”  
“They.” Radi corrects, still staring at the door, although she’s stopped in her tracks. “They don’t have a gender.”

“That’s what you’re worried about right now?” He scoffs. “Grammar?”

“You’re right, though.” She continues, ignoring him. “They’re not a janitor.” she turns around slowly to look straight into his eyes. “They’re the Hollow Knight.”

“I don’t know or care what that means.” he hisses. “We have them. And they’re cooperating very nicely. So I don’t know what you’re planning on doing, but whatever it is, we can do just the same to them.”

She laughs coldly. “You’re threatening me with  _ them? _ It’s not a mystery that you’re grasping at straws, but this… this is just sad. I’m almost entirely sure you’re not legally allowed to do that anyway. I’m not dumb, you know. I may have just been introduced to this city a week or so ago, but I get information from your minds. I rather enjoy them, you know. They’re very easy to pry into.”

Wilde doesn’t say anything else. “It doesn’t matter if it’s legally allowed. We’ve agreed that we’ll do anything to stop you, even if it means going outside the law.”

“But you  _ are _ the law.” She reminds them. “And besides, you don’t stand a chance against them either. I don’t know how you managed to capture them, but I’d bet my own life they let you do it. They just needed to create a big enough distraction, is my guess.”

He opens his mouth for a second, before closing it again. He finally then asks, “How do you know it was a distraction?”  
“I assume Hornet and the Pale King returned to Hallownest.” She turns back around towards the door. “Did the distraction happen near the parking garage?”

“Wh--” His eyes dart around the room, trying to think of a way to get the Radiance not to leave. “Hallownest? Hornet? Pale-- What are you saying?”

“So the answer is yes, I suppose.” She continues. “If I were you, I’d wait around that garage. I guarantee you Hornet and her father will return to the surface very soon. But I’m not you, at least not yet.”

She walks forward finally, and opens the door, taking one last look back at Wilde. “I could be your ally, if you wanted. But you insist on making this annoying for me.” She looks back at the door. “So I advise you just to stay out of matters that you don’t understand.”

Wilde yells something back at her as she lifts herself off the ground, but she doesn’t hear it, or she didn’t think it was worth responding to. He feels himself exhale hard, and looks back down at the floor. His vision was foggy with this orange shit in his eyes, and he could barely focus on anything. He could hear the Radiance’s voice in his head constantly, beckoning him to join her, to let go of the pain he felt in his life, but he focused his efforts into pushing it back and ignoring it.

The police had known the Hollow Knight was a distraction, since, when they had taken care of them, officers who had been stationed near the garage informed them that they had been attacked out of nowhere. The four officers inside the garage were found muttering to themselves, clearly infected. Unfortunately the officers outside didn’t get to see the people who attacked them. They were gone when they came to. 

Hornet must have been the girl who broke the Hollow Knight out of prison. The Pale King… could be a variety of people. Perhaps it was the little boy Hornet always ran around with, or someone completely different. Maybe even that escaped mental hospital patient. Either way, the Radiance was right. They should probably get police to stand around the parking garage in case they came back. Hornet was a slippery girl though. They had come somewhat close to taking her in, but she always seemed to get away. 

One thing seemed slightly out of place though. The pornstar who had visited the Radiance that one day completely baffled Wilde. He seemed to come out of nowhere. He did have strange looking eyes, which seemed to be a characteristic of most of these strange people, but he always said they were just contacts. Nobody ever saw him without them though. What was his role in all of this? The Radiance was right-- they didn’t understand any of this. And the biggest mystery of all was Hallownest. She spoke of it like it was a place, a big place, but there was no indication that it even existed, other than that strange door the police uncovered in the parking garage. They couldn’t get into it though, even when they tried breaking down the door.

And nobody had even begun to comprehend the fact that Gods existed, and were now using their home as a battleground.

…

The Radiance had known, of course, that the Hollow Knight fought the police near the garage. She was connected to them, after all, and they were using her own abilities to fight off the police. Although, the abilities they used could be more accurately described as a mixture of her own abilities, and theirs. They had been altered after their time together in the Black Egg.

She had noticed the sharp surge in activity from the Hollow Knight, she had felt it in her mind, and she had felt the sudden calm that occurred shortly after the outburst. It intrigued her, but it made sense, especially after clearing things up with Wilde.

She flew right above the buildings, just barely scraping by the tops of the taller ones. She had focused hard on where to find Franklin, and sensed him staying on the outskirts of the city, in a small house sandwiched between a bunch of other small houses. It took her about 5 minutes to reach the neighborhood, which was surprisingly well taken care of for the very close outskirts of the city. She landed gracefully on the pathway leading to the door, and walked up to the front door. She knocked three times and then waited for an answer, placing her hands behind her back and rocking back and forth on her heels.

Inside the house, Franklin was watching the TV in the living room. He had been keeping an unnaturally close watch on the news ever since he sold out the Radiance to the police, hoping to god they could keep her in check now that they had her in custody. This hope was futile, and he knew it, but he couldn’t help holding onto it. It was the only thing that kept him sane.

When he heard the knocking, he jumped in his seat and stood straight up. He crept silently towards the door, his head down and his breathing shaky. All the curtains in the house were down, since he was terrified at the thought of someone watching him. He kneeled down in front of the front door and took a look through the peephole. 

His heart dropped into his stomach. All he saw was a flash of gold, and he knew who it was. He’d be lying if he said he didn’t expect this, but it was a day he hoped would never come. He walked back silently into the living room and picked up his suitcase. He was going to drive straight through his neighbors yard and off into the sunset, as far as his car would carry him. He was leaving and never coming back. Normally this would have been irrational, but nothing’s irrational when you’re being relentlessly hunted by the god of light.

He opened the door to his garage and climbed into the driver’s seat. He threw the suitcase unceremoniously into the backseat and started the car quickly, while feverishly pressing the button on the dashboard used to open the garage door. Once it started opening, it became clear to him that she would hear it, so he waited until he could just barely fit the car through, and then floored it. The top of the car scraped the garage door violently and nearly brought the roof off it, but that was the least of his worries. He drove straight through the grass and through the neighbor’s fence and bushes, damaging the front bumper and the hood quite a bit, but it didn’t matter, as long as he could still drive. 

Soon he was barreling down the road at 110 miles per hour, on a street with a speed limit of 25. But it was no match for the god of light.

Straight ahead, 10 foot spikes shot straight out of the ground, cleanly blocking his way past the street. He slammed on the breaks, and he felt the car skid, tilting forward slightly, the front bumper screeching violently against the road. He didn’t want to die. He really,  _ really  _ didn’t want to die. He knew he would die either way, whether he rammed straight into those spikes or if he stopped, but he’d be able to live just a little bit longer if his death wasn’t instantaneous, so he chose the latter option. The car skidded to a halt, only a few feet from the first spike. For a moment, it was quiet, and all he could hear was his breathing. It was almost calming.

It all ended instantly when the woman he feared landed on top of the car’s hood. She landed with one knee down, like a superhero, as her wings unfurled from her back. She opened her eyes and smiled, her perfect face framed by her beautiful curtains of blonde hair. Her eyes pierced his soul, so intensely that he felt like she had just stabbed him straight through his chest. She might as well have.

“Going somewhere?” 

She brought one fist out to grab his collar, her hand breaking through the windshield with incredible ease. He felt himself being pulled unceremoniously out of the car, and then thrown roughly onto the street. He tried breaking his fall, but everything was happening so fast that he completely failed and his forearms scraped across the street, leaving a trail of blood from where he slid. He couldn’t even feel it.

“Please…” He gasped, picking up his one hand and holding it out blindly in front of his face. “Please no… please… please… please… please… I swear-- I don’t--”

“QUIET.” Her voice thundered. She stood right above him, her eyes still boring into his soul. Franklin’s eyes open a crack to see her standing above him, her wings stretched to an enormous distance. “Quit your pleading.”

“Oh, come on.” He chokes, tears in his eyes. “Please, I regret everything, I should have never done that, please, I don’t-- I don’t want to die-- I don’t-- I just wanna--”

“You sealed your fate when you cried wolf that day.” She resounded, her voice filling his ears and seeping into his mind. She was 10 times more powerful than she had been when he sold her out. Why wouldn’t she be? Of course she was. 

“I only--”

“I didn’t want those people to die.” She growls. “Their blood is on your hands!”

“You killed them!” he finally retorts, finding the last bit of his voice left. “Why the  _ fuck  _ would their blood be on my fucking hands?!”

That was a mistake. The Radiance’s face contorts into pure, unbridled rage. Perhaps it was because Franklin was right, but so was the Radiance. She really didn’t want those people to die. It would have been so much simpler if he had just…

Radi turns her face to the sky and roars. It sounded throughout the neighborhood, and far into the city. It was a roar unique to her, one only heard once before in the dream realm, right before she fought the chosen vessel. When it ended, her presence lingered, and the sky was noticeably brighter, and so was the Radiance. Now she was really glowing. She started to rise into the air, as four bright balls of light appeared surrounding her. Franklin was too shocked to speak a word.

This was it. This was the end. It wasn’t every day that Franklin stared death in its eyes, and it was a feeling unlike anything else. Fear, of course, was there, but there was a hint of curiosity masked behind the fear. A hint of calm. What was beyond the veil?  
It took him a moment to realize that time hadn’t slowed down in that second, but the Radiance wasn’t doing anything. Her glow started to fade, and she slowly floated back to the ground. She took a deep breath as she stared into Franklin’s eyes again. The hint of curiosity and hope had faded just as soon as it arrived.

“No.” She breathes. “That would be unorthodox. We’re going to end this the right way.”

Franklin takes a very short breath. “What?”

She walked over to kneel at his side. “You’re not going to die, Franklin. I’m a merciful god, after all. All I ask is for you to let go.”

The fear had returned, but this time, there was no hope to come with it. He suddenly felt her hand on his cheek, a surprisingly soft touch for a god. To his own surprise, the fear faded away. It was replaced with a sense of calm. He felt warmth creeping up his body, and light clouding his eyes. Perhaps this wasn’t so bad. He didn’t mind it. He welcomed it. The fear returned for a moment when he heard the Radiance’s voice in his head, but it was calm and caring, and so unlike her usual voice.

“Stop worrying.”

He felt himself relax, his back falling against the cement. Nothing hurt anymore. Nothing felt like anything anymore. He felt his mind slipping. He couldn’t hear his own breathing.

The Radiance stood up, and watched as Franklin’s eyes clouded over. She took an exasperated sigh, and swished her hands in a small motion, the spikes she summoned receding back into the ground like nothing had happened. If anyone had seen the mess she had made, they didn’t announce it. It was likely someone had seen it, because It had been rather loud, and bright, but she didn’t care. At most they would have called the police, but they obviously wouldn’t have been able to do anything.

Except, perhaps, hurt the Hollow Knight. She very much doubted they would dare hurt them, but she wanted to go and speak to them anyway, since she hoped they had come to their senses. Her connection to them had grown slightly stronger after they used their abilities, so maybe, just maybe, they’d come with her if she wanted them to.

It was worth a shot. She spread her wings and lifted herself into the air, wind rushing past her ears. The police wouldn’t like it, but she was going to take Hollow from their custody.

And there was nothing they could do about it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Moral of the story: Don't sexually assault women, because she might end up being the god of light, and you might end up in eternal servitude to her.  
> Also, Radiance defending Hollow's pronouns. You love to see it.


	29. The Argument

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Old grudges resurface.

Being back in Hallownest was like a fever dream for the Pale King. It didn’t feel real. It’s not like he didn’t want to be back in Hallownest, he knew it was the place he  _ should  _ be in, but it didn’t feel right. Not just because the Kingdom was infected, and no one was really sentient anymore due to the Radiance’s influence, but because it didn’t feel familiar. The last time he was in Hallownest was when he crawled out of the Abyss a few years ago, for the very last time. He didn’t remember anything really about the ascent to the city above-- he just recalled a lot of disbelief, and foggy vision. He  _ had  _ been trying to crawl out of the abyss for centuries, and you don’t just take it lightly when you finally get out. He was still trying to process it.

It seemed like Ghost was leading them through Greenpath to get to Queen’s Gardens. The Pale King hadn’t really spent much time in Greenpath, even when he was the ruler of Hallownest, because he had agreed that Greenpath was Unn’s domain. He went to oversee the construction of Pilgrim’s way, and left the rest of it pretty much untouched. He was rather glad he didn’t do anything to it too, since it would have been a real pain in the ass to work around all of the greenery. He probably wouldn’t have had the heart to build atop the greenery anyway, at least not now. His old self might have been willing. He was a much colder person back then.

“I spent most of my time in Greenpath after the infection took over.” Hornet tells him. “I know you didn’t, since you had an arrangement, and that’s a shame, because it’s a beautiful place.”

He sighs. “Yeah. Although, it’s kind of strange you didn’t spend most of your time in Deepnest.”

Hornet looks away. She looks kind of annoyed, but her annoyance is directed more at herself than the Pale King. “You’ve been in deepnest before. Surely you know it’s not the most calming place.”  
“But you were born there.” He says, somewhat confused. “Your mother was the queen of Deepnest. _You’re_ the queen of Deepnest.”

“Were  _ you  _ from Deepnest?” Hornet asks like it’s obvious.

He pauses for a moment. “That… that doesn’t… that doesn’t have anything to do with--”

“I’m not my mom.” She says blandly. “I’m… you’re part of me too.”

The Pale King looks away. He feels dumb, not realizing that Hornet wasn’t entirely her mother. It seems so obvious, but she was raised by her mother, almost completely, and he had always thought of her as almost a carbon copy of Herrah. It was stupid of him.

“Of course.” He says. “I… I know. I should know, at least.”

Ghost leads them down Greenpath and into Fog Canyon. Talking in Fog Canyon wasn’t super convenient, with the thick fog that filled their ears and numbed their minds. Often when people spoke in the canyon, their voice sounded distant and foggy. Besides, it was helpful to focus when navigating the canyon, since one wrong step could send you falling down into an exploding jellyfish. That was part of the reason why the Pale King didn’t build much here either, except for Queen’s station, which was placed more in the Fungal Wastes anyway. If they had gone the other direction, it wouldn’t be too far of a walk to the City of Tears. Maybe a place like that would spark a memory in the Pale King, but he wasn’t sure if he actually wanted to go there. He was worried he’d see droves of infected roaming the streets, the hallways, the towers. All the people he failed to save. He shuddered just thinking about it.

Once the three of them passed a room full of small clouds of electric bats, their ears popped when they entered a room less dense with fog. Hornet watched as Ghost slipped past a shade gate to flip the lever on the other side of the room to let the two through. Hornet placed her hands in her pockets and glanced over at PK.

“What have you really been doing the past few centuries?” She asked, somewhat curious, but the Pale King had a feeling she was asking this to spite him. A tight knot formed in his chest and he swallowed hard.

“Didn’t I already tell you?” he says, trying to avoid the question. “In the hospital?”

“You said you were biding your time.” She says. The door behind them opens and Hornet turns towards it. “That doesn’t mean anything to me.”

He blinks, and follows her without saying anything. 

“I’m not gonna let this go unsaid.” She says, once they had dropped down into the next room. This was a decently long hallway, filled with those collapsing platforms that he had placed all over the Gardens. Some of the people who used to stay around here were a unique looking bunch-- they had evolved spines that ran down their backs like little porcupines. A few of them were pacing slowly around them, looking relatively docile until Ghost ran up to one. Their orange gaze fell onto them and they rose their arm to protect themselves, their spines growing more prominent. The little vessel countered it by taking a strike to their shoulder, before running the sword right through their stomach. The spined person keened over, infection flowing fast out of their wound before they collapsed onto the floor, a pool of orange growing beneath them. The Pale King swore he felt his heart drop into his stomach.

Hornet noticed his clear uneasiness. “They’re far gone.” She tells him. It wasn’t reassuring, but she didn’t mean it to be. “They’re not alive anymore. They’re a mindless servant. Besides, they’ll be on their feet again in due time.”

PK nodded and followed her down into the next room. There wasn’t much in here except for a mantis traitor who was sitting perched on the wall. As soon as they spotted them, they jumped off the wall and hovered a good distance away, before bringing up their hands and flicking them in a motion that sent a spinning projectile towards them, which was a certain characteristic possessed by the mantis tribe. Hornet and the Pale King stepped back before it boomeranged back at the mantis, while Ghost jumped forward and took a slash at one of their wings. They faltered and as Ghost hit the ground and jumped back up, and speared them right through their heart. When they removed the sword, a fountain of infection started dripping down the traitor as they flew back into the wall and collapsed against it, their eyes still wide and emotionless. PK felt something rise in his throat, but he pushed it down and hid his expression. 

Their destination was right around the corner. They took a doorway above them into another room, and then another doorway into a side room filled with spikes. Ghost and Hornet were nimble and quick to get through the thorns, but PK hadn’t spent the most time parkouring through the kingdom. He instead just teleported a short distance into the next room. He felt his heart unclench as he took a look around the room. It wasn’t huge, at least not for your typical room in Hallownest, but it was beautiful. The walls were covered in greenery, and a stone grave stood at the center. It was covered in shining white flowers, the exact flowers they were looking for. They looked like they had grown quite a bit, in an effort to hug the grave like it was their own. Ghost walked over to the grave and finally looked back at Hornet.

“This what we’re looking for?” Hornet asks her dad. He walks forward and kneels in front of the grave, and reads the simple inscription. 

_ Here Sleeps the Traitor’s Child. _

It’s rather depressing, if you think about it. He ran his fingers over the grave and then went down to cup his hands under the petals of one of the delicate flowers.

“Yeah.” He says. He plucks one of the flowers and stands up, staring at it. It emanated a dull white glow, and a small amount of warmth. “This is it.”

He looks over at Hornet. “I suppose we only need one, then.” She says. “Ghost and I can protect you as we head up back to the surface. If there’s anyone up there when we get to the top, then we continue to protect you. And we pray.”

The Pale King nods in silent agreement. Hornet turns back to the spiked tunnel and zips across it with a string of silk, Ghost at her heels. PK turns and closes his eyes, preparing to teleport back across the short span of spines, when he feels the flower in his hands tremble for a second, and he opens his eyes again.

“I can’t teleport with this.” He says slowly.

“Well, we could never teleport in the first place, and we’ve never had that much of a problem before.” Hornet rolls her eyes. “Come on.”

His daughter might have thought this wasn’t a big deal, but he didn’t take it lightly. This meant that the chance of them getting out of the parking garage unscathed had decreased greatly. He narrowed his eyes and carefully navigated over the spines, tucking the flower’s stem into his front pocket, being careful not to crush it.

“Come on.” Hornet urged, leading him out of the area. She seemed to consider something for a moment, before taking the flower from his front pocket and placing it in her own.

“What are you doing?” He asked, somewhat annoyed.

“Until we get to any enemies, I’m going to keep it.” She says. “I know how to get around this place. It took you a full minute to get past those thorns.”

She had a point, but it still annoyed him.

The three of them walked in silence until they came to the body of the spined person, still lying on the ground. Their wound had started to heal itself slowly; PK could see it from the back. He stifled an uncomfortable sound as they passed them, and finally Hornet decided to say something. Unfortunately, it wasn’t a subject the Pale King wanted to pursue.

“What have you been doing these last few centuries?” She reasked, her voice hard. The question was worded so conversationally, but her tone was less so. She was angry, and understandably so.

“It was nothing fun.” He answered finally, knowing she wouldn’t accept that answer.

She scoffs. “Nothing fun, huh? Must have been more fun than being here for your Kingdom.”

The Pale King stops walking. He feels something hot rise in his chest. “Don’t say that.” He’s surprised by how bitter his tone is.

“Say what?” She shoots back. They’ve both stopped right in the middle of the Gardens. “The truth? The fact that you weren’t here for me or for the Hollow Knight when you definitely should have been?”

“You know that if I had a choice, I’d have been here. I would have been here.” He repeats. “I would have. But I-- I couldn’t.”  
“You couldn’t?” She sneers. “Why? You still haven’t told me what you’ve been doing. And I know it’s not unlike you to run away from your failures, _dad_.” The edge she adds on the last word makes him wince.

“You really think that?” He blinks, trying to keep his voice level. “You really think I’d do that? Of course I didn’t have a choice.”  
“Then tell me!”

The Pale King can’t seem to find his words.

“Tell me why you took my mother from me, ignored me ever since my birth, and eventually left me an entire kingdom to protect!” She’s yelling now, her breathing unsteady.

“It was the void!” He finally chokes out. “It-- it took my mind for what felt like an eternity. I don’t remember anything that happened after that…”

Hornet doesn’t say anything. Her face is still twisted into a scowl.

“I was stuck in the Abyss for so long.” He tries to say, walking closer to her. “The void… it ruined me. I can’t even go through a day without thinking about it. Do you know what it did to me? Do you know what the only thing I felt for centuries was?”

For some reason, tears form at the corners of his eyes. He wasn’t really even sad. Perhaps it was just the frustration and anger, at both himself and Hornet. 

“Pain.” he spits. “Darkness and pain. It made me climb up the Abyss over and over and over again. It must have been millions of times.” He brings his hands up to his face. “I RELIVED EVERY SINGLE ONE OF MY CHILDRENS’ PAIN AND SUFFERING!” he screams. “AND I KNOW IT WAS ALL BECAUSE OF ME!”

He looks back up at Hornet, and his eyes twitch. “That was the worst part, you know. I knew I deserved it. I might have been able to deal with the pain, but the guilt…” He shudders. “It eats at me every day.”

Hornet’s face had softened, but she hadn’t moved or said anything.

“Don’t you dare say I abandoned this Kingdom ever again.” he finally growls. 

“You say that like you never did.” Hornet says, her voice still cold. “I still remember when you locked yourself in the White Palace and transferred it to the dream realm, right after you imprisoned the Hollow Knight. You never even thought about the idea that they might not work. You left no one in charge. The Kingdom was doomed without you, and you didn’t even acknowledge my existence. You must have known that Hallownest’s fate would fall on my shoulders if something happened to you, but you never even thought about telling me how to lead a kingdom. Hell, you didn’t even tell me how to fight.”

The Pale King had been so saddled with the guilt resulting from the suffering he caused to his void children that he hadn’t even considered Hornet’s feelings. That was another mistake he had made. He had made so many mistakes…

“What was I supposed to do?” She says, her voice breaking slightly. “I was the only person with royal blood who wasn’t locked up, stuck at the bottom of the Abyss, or cooped up in her Gardens, blissfully unaware of literally everything going on. I was still young when the Kingdom started falling apart, and I couldn’t do anything. I had no one. And thanks to you, that’s how it was most of my life.” She takes a breath before saying, “I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t almost glad you felt suffering for once in your life.”

The Pale King felt a sharp pang in his chest, and his face went blank. “Hornet…”

She didn’t say anything for a moment. Then she took the flower out of her pocket and handed it back to him. “Come on. We have to head to Fog Canyon. Ghost and I will clear the jellyfish before you follow us.”

The three of them ascended up to the entrance to Fog Canyon, and the Pale King sat right outside in the Queen’s Gardens. He waited for a while for Hornet to finish clearing the path, while mulling over her words. They still stung. He didn’t have anything to say to her about them. She was basically agreeing that he deserved it, which he knew was true, but… glad? Really? How much did she hate him? He knew he wasn’t the best father for her, but… she was right. He really didn’t give her any ideas of how to follow in his footsteps. He hung his head, but was careful not to hurt the flower in his pocket.

She returned a few minutes later and silently motioned for him to follow her. Walking through fog canyon was peaceful for PK, since it wasn’t easy to speak to people, and he didn’t feel obligated to say anything to Hornet. Plus, the fog numbed his mind. Hornet’s words stung less. The only thing he had to worry about was the flower against his chest, and keeping his feet out of the acid. 

He notices, as soon as the three of them make their way out of fog canyon and into Greenpath, that Hornet appears somewhat sad.

“Sorry.” She says suddenly. “About… that. I’m not glad you suffered.”

Her father doesn’t say anything.

“I was just angry.” She continued. “We’re both in the same position now, and dawning on past mistakes isn’t going to change anything.”

He sighs. “Doesn’t make them excusable. I know I was wrong for that. I know sorry doesn’t cut it.” He looks down and places his hands over the flower. “You don’t need to forgive me. I wouldn’t.”

“I don’t,” She clarifies, taking a glance back at him. “And I’m not saying you didn’t deserve the void’s wrath. I’m saying sorry for lashing out at you, and I’m saying that we should move on from it, since debating isn’t going to change anything.”

He takes a deep breath, walking right at her heels. “ _ I’m _ not going to move on.”

“You better.” She says. Her voice had taken on a determined edge, with a hint of anger, but it wasn’t directed at him. “Gods know what’s going to be up there once we leave this place. We have to be ready.”

She seemed to have moved on. She had her priorities straight, and the Pale King figured he should too. She had started to run ahead, taking care of a few of the hostile creatures in Greenpath alongside Ghost. The Pale King just kept himself a good distance away, watching Hornet maneuver through the grassy platforms. He felt a warm feeling in his chest, a proud feeling towards his daughter. Hornet would have probably gotten mad at him if she knew what he was thinking, but he didn’t care. He knew all of her skills came from her mother, but it didn’t change the fact that she was strong. He gave him hope.

But Hornet really wasn’t very hopeful herself. She didn’t have any faith in this plan-- she was just going through with it because she knew it would be her fault if the world ended in complete darkness. This was an attempt to avert it if it came to that, but chances are it wouldn’t work. It  _ was _ just a flower, after all.

The three made it to the entrance before either of them really knew it. Hornet had stared up at the door as she waited for her dad to catch up. She looked down at Ghost for a moment, and they looked the same as ever, like they had no clue what was really going on. They really didn’t know that the fate of the world rested on their shoulders. 

“Are we ready to go up?” She asked PK, looking back at him. He takes a deep breath.

“Let’s get this out of the way.” He sighs. “If the flower…”

“Don’t say that.” she mutters. “That fucking flower is all I--” She stops, and looks up the crossroads well. “Let’s go.”

She starts climbing the rope up to the stone door. She didn’t have faith in that flower, but she wasn’t going to tell him that. She didn’t want to tell him that even if she did have faith in it, it was her only hope to save this city, or the world. But really, she had just started to accept that this trip was futile. She had just started to accept that Grimm was right-- this was a lose-lose situation. There was nothing she could do. She didn’t want to think about it, but she knew. There were only two plausible outcomes-- the Radiance winning, or darkness consuming the world. She almost hoped it would turn out to be the second one, because then she wouldn’t have to live in a world where her failure was as stark as her father’s had been. But that was a fate worse than death. She knew what would be better, but either way… the Radiance would fulfill her revenge.

They had lost.


End file.
